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POT-POUKEI FROM A SUEREY GARDEN 



POT-POURRI 



FKOM 



A SURREY GARDEN 



BY 

MRS. C. W. EARLE 



WITH AN APPENDIX 

BY 

LADY CONSTANCE LYTTON 



TEATH EDITION. 



NEW YORK 

E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 

31 West Twenty-Third Street 

1898 






/^H< 



V 

02 



TO MY SISTER 
THE COUNTESS OF LYTTON 



PEEFACE 

These ' Notes ' would never have been extracted 
from me without the encouragement I have received 
from all my dear nieces, real and adopted, and the 
very practical assistance of one of them. Now that 
the book is written, I can only hope that it will not 
prove too great a disappointment to them all. 



CONTENTS 



JANUARY 

Introductory — Indispensable books — An old Hertfordshire gar- 
den — Eeminiscences — My present garden plants in a 
London room — Japanese floral arrangement — Cooki 
vegetables and fruit — Making coffee — Early blossoms — 
Winter gardening — Frost pictures on window-panes . 



FEBRUARY 

Forced bulbs — The exhibitions of the Eoyal Horticultural 
Society — Early spring salads and vegetables — Ehubarb 
tarts — Orange marmalade — Eeceipts by a French clief . 23 



MARCH 

Slow-growing hardy shrubs — The Swanley Horticultural College 
— Gardening as an employment for women — Aucubas berries 
— Planting Asparagus — Brussels Sprouts — Sowing annuals 
— A list of flowering creepers — ' The Poet in the City ' — 
Old illustrated gardening books 38 



APRIL 

Whims of the weather — Spring flowers — The herbaceous nur- 
sery — Love for the garden — A light sprayer — Homely 
French receipt — French gardening — The late frosts . . 70 



X POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

MAY 

PAGE 

Vegetable growing — Autumn annuals — Spring seeds— Descrip- 
tion of my own garden — Weeding — Houses facing west — 
Flowering shrubs — May flowers — Sundials — Roses and 
Creepers — History of the Tulip — Salads — Plant shelters — ■ 
Sweet Verbena — Blue Anemones — Packing cut flowers — 
A few simple receipts — Plants in pots . . .86 

JUNE 

Hands and fingers after weeding— Shrub-pruning— Boxes for 
birds — Eobins in greenhouse — 'Burning Bush ' — Two Poly- 
gonums — Strawberries — Geraniums and cuttings — Cactuses 
— Freezia bulbs — Gloriosa siipcrba — Luncheon dishes — 
Cucumbers 116 

JULY 

The Welsh Poppy — Astrantias — Old Green Peas — Eed Currants 
— The Madonna Lily, Uipee de la Vierge — The value of the 
reserve garden — An English summer's day — Light soils and 
dry summers — Other people's gardens — Notebooks— Sunny 
lawns — Dutch gardens — Fountains and water-tanks— 
Lobelia cardiiialis — Watering out of doors — Two hardy 
shrubs 128 

AUGUST 

Gilbert White — The decline of vegetable culture in the Middle 
Ages — Preserving French Beans and Scarlet Eunners^ 
Scotch gardens — Tropcsolum speciosum — Crimson-berried 
Elder — The coast of Sutherlandshire — The abuse of coarse 
Creepers 145 

SEPTEMBER 

Weeds we alternately love and hate — Amaryllis helladcnma — 
First touch of frost — Colour-blindness — Special annuals — 
Autumn seed-sowing — Ee-planting Carnation layers- 
Planting drives and approaches to small houses — ' Wild 
gardening ' — Double Violets — Salvias— Baby chickens — 
Pigeons IGO 



CONTENTS xi 

OCTOBER 

PAGE 

Autumn mornings and robins — Italian Daturas — ^The useful 
' Myticuttah ' — Nerines- Three Cape greenhouse plants — 
Sweet Chestnuts — Other people's gardening difficulties — 
Making new beds— The great Apple time— French White 
Haricot— The stewing of chickens and game— Ke-planting 
Violas and Saxifrages — ' St. Luke's summer' — Plants for 
August, September, and October — London gardens . . 178 

NOVEMBEE 

Letting in the autumn sun — Jerusalem Artichokes — Hardy 
Bamboos — Polygonum cuspldatwn — Autumn flowers — 
Small Beech-trees — Last day in the country — Some garden- 
ing books of this century 202 

DECEMBER 

Orchid-growing on a small scale — Miss Jekyll's articles in the 
' Guardian ' — Winter vegetables — Laver as a vegetable — 
Advice to housekeepers— Cooking sun-dried fruit . . 2-19 

SONS 

Boys and girls — The health question — Early independence — 
Public schools— Influence of parents — The management of 
money — Family life and its difficulties— Sir Henry Taylor— 
' Mothers and Sons ' — The feeding of children — The abuse 
of athletics— Success in life — Spartan upbringing — Youth 
and age 257 

FURNISHING 

Books on furnishing — Smoking — Morris's 'Lectures on Art ' — 
London houses — New and second-hand furniture — Curtains 
versus blinds— White paint — Bookcases— Bed-rooms — Bath- 
rooms — Bedding— Useful tables— Bain-water . . . 276 

DAY IN LONDON 
Advantages of suburbs— London life — Picture exhibitions . 289 



xii POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

HEALTH 

PAGE 

Nurses — ' Janet's Repentance ' — Private hospitals— Sick-nursing 
— Convalescence — Medical books . ... 296 



AMATEUR ARTISTS 

Amateurs— Want of occupation — Work amongst the poor — 
Music and drawing — Euskin's teaching — Technical skill — 
Natural and acquired talent — Leaving home — Water-colours 
versus oils 307 



DAUGHTERS 

School-girls — Ignorance of parents — The confidence of children 
must be gained — The way to do it — Drawbacks of nurseries 
and school-rooms — Over-education — Show-training — Deli- 
cate girls — A woman's vocation — Superficial teaching — 
Children's tempers — Modern girls — Herbert Spencer and 
education — J. P. Richter — Liberty and independence — 
Serious studies— What young girls should read— Parents 
and children — Friendships — Girls' allowances — Dress — 
Professions — Strong feelings — Management of house and 
family — Early rising^Life in society 317 

APPENDIX 
Japanese art of arranging cut flowers "353 

Index ........... 367 



POT-POUREI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



JANUABY 

Introductory — Indispensable books — An old Hertfordshire garden — 

Reminiscences— My present garden plants in a London room 

Japanese floral arrangement — Cooking vegetables and fruit — 
Making coffee — Early blossoms— Winter gardening— Frost pic- 
tures on window-panes. 

January 2nd. — I am not going to write a gardening 
book, or a cookery book, or a book on furnishing or 
education. Plenty of these have been pubHshed lately. 
I merely wish to talk to you on paper about several sub- 
jects as they occur to me throughout one year ; and if 
such desultory notes prove to be of any use to you or 
others, so much the better. One can only teach from 
personal knowledge ; yet how exceedingly limited that is ! 

The fact that I shall mention gardening every month 
will give this subject preponderance throughout the book. 
At the same time I shall in no way attempt to super- 
sede books on gardening, that are much fuller and more 
complete than anything I could write. For those who 
care to learn gardening in the way I have learnt, I may 
mention, before I go further, three books which seem to 
me absolutely essential — ' The English Flower Garden,' 
by W. Eobinson ; ' The Vegetable Garden,' translated from 
the French, edited by W. Eobinson ; and Johnson's 



2 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

' Gardener's Dictionary,' by C. H. Wright and D. 
Dewar. This last supphes any deficiencies in the other 
two, and it teaches the cultivation of plants under glass. 

The cookery book to which I shall refer is ' Dainty 
Dishes,' by Lady Harriet Sinclair. It is an old one, and 
has often been reprinted. I have known it all my married 
life, and have found no other book on cooking so useful, 
so clear, or in such good taste. It is the only English 
cookery book I know that has been translated into 
German. 

I have given you the names of these books, as it is 
through them I have learnt most of what I know, both in 
gardening and cooking. It is, however, undeniable that, 
as the old proverb says, you may drag a horse to the 
water, but you can't make him drink ; and unless, when I 
name plants or vegetables for the table, you look them up 
in the books, you will derive very little benefit from these 
notes. 

Just now it seems as if everybody wrote books 
which nobody reads. This is probably what I am doing 
myself; but, so far as gardening is concerned, at any rate, 
I have read and studied very hard, as I began to learn 
quite late in life. I never buy a plant, or have one given 
me, without looking it up in the books and providing 
it with the best treatment in my power. If a plant 
fails, I always blame myself, and feel sure I have culti- 
vated it wrongly. No day goes by without my study- 
ing some of my books or reading one or more of the very 
excellent gardening newspapers that are published weekly. 
This is how I also learnt cooking when I was younger, 
always going to the book when a dish was wrong. 
In this way one becomes independent of cooks and 
gardeners, because, if they leave, one can always teach 
another. Nothing is more unjust than the way a great 
many people find fault with their gardeners, and, like the 



JANUARY 3 

Egyptians of old, demand bricks without straw. How 
can a man who has had httle education and no experience 
be expected to know about plants that come from all 
parts of the world, and require individual treatment and 
understanding to make them grow here at all ? Or how 
can a cook be expected to dress vegetables when she has 
never been taught how to do it ? In England her one 
instruction has usually been to throw a large handful of 
coarse soda into the water, Ynth a view to making it soft 
and keeping the colour of the vegetables, whereas, in fact, 
she by so doing destroys their health-giving properties ; 
and every housekeeper should see that it is not done. 
Her next idea is to hand over the cooking of the 
vegetables to a raw girl of a kitchen-maid, if she has one. 

I am most anxious that anybody who does not care 
for old Herbals should pass over those catalogued in 
March ; but, on the other hand, that those who are 
interested in gardening should look through the Novem- 
ber list of books, as they will find many modern ones 
mentioned there which may be useful to them for 
practical purposes. 

My hope and wish is that my reader will take me 
by the hand ; for I do not reap, and I do not sow. I am 
merely, like so many other women of the past and present, 
a patient gleaner in the fields of knowledge, and absolutely 
dependent on human sympathy in order to do anything 
at all. I cannot explain too much that the object of my 
book is to try to make everyone think for him or herself, 
and at the same time to profit by the instruction which in 
these days is so easy to get, and is all around us. Women 
are still behind the other sex in the power of thinking 
at all, much more so in the power of thinking of several 
things at once. I hope the coming women may see the 
great advantage of training their minds early in life to be 
a practical denial of Swift's cynical assertion that ' mankind 

b2 



4 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

are as unfit for flying as for thinking.' Nothing can be done 
well without thought — certainly not gardening, nor house- 
keeping, nor managing children. A curious example of 
this is given in a recently published account of the most 
famous of modern jugglers. He says that he trained his 
brain in youth to exert itself in three different ways at 
the same time. This no doubt is the reason that he is 
now pre-eminent in his own line. 

January 3rd. — I will begin by telling you that I was 
brought up for the most part in the country, in a 
beautiful, wild, old-fashioned garden. This garden, 
through circumstances, had remained in the hands of an 
old gardener for more than thirty years, which carries 
us back nearly a century. Like so many young people 
I see about me now, I cared only for the flowers 
growing, that I might have the pleasure of pick- 
ing them. Mr. Euskin says that it is luxurious and 
pleasure-loving people who like them gathered. Garden- 
ing is, I think, essentially the amusement of the middle- 
aged and old. The lives of the young, as a rule, are too 
full to give the time and attention required. 

Almost all that has remained in my mind of my 
young days in this garden is how wonderfully the old 
man kept the place. He succeeded in flowering many 
things year after year with no one to help him, and with 
the frost in the valley to contend against in spring. It 
was difiicult, too, for him to get seeds or plants, since the 
place was held by joint owners, whom he did not like to 
ask for them. The spot was very sheltered, and that is 
one of the greatest of all secrets for plant cultivation. An 
ever-flowing mill-stream ran all round the garden ; and 
the hedges of China-roses, Sweetbriar, Honeysuckle, and 
white Hawthorn tucked their toes into the soft mud, and 
throve year after year. The old man was a philosopher 
in his way, and when on a cold March morning my 



JANUARY 5 

sisters and I used to rush out after lessons and ask him 
what the weather was going to be, he would stop his 
digging, look up at the sky, and say : ' Well, miss, it may 
be fine and it may be wet ; and if the sun comes out, it 
will be warmer.' After this solemn announcement he 
would wipe his brow and resume his work, and we went 
off, quite satisfied, to our well-known haunts in the 
Hertfordshire woods, to gather Violets and Primroses for 
our mother, who loved them. All this, you will see, laid 
a very small foundation for any knowledge of garden- 
ing ; and yet, owing to the vivid character of the impressions 
of youth, it left a memory that was very useful to me when 
I took up gardening later in life. To this day I can smell 
the tall white double Eockets that throve so well in the 
damp garden, and scented the evening air. They grew 
by the side of glorious bunches of Oriental Poppies and 
the on-coming spikes of the feathery Spircea anmcus. 
This garden had peculiar charms for us, because, though 
we hardly realised it, such gardens were already 
beginning to grow out of fashion, sacrificed to the new 
bedding-out system, which altered the whole gardening 
of Europe. I shall allude to this again. I can never 
think of this old home without my thoughts recurring 
to Hood's poem ' I remember ! I remember ! ' too well 
known perhaps, even by the young, to justify my quoting 
it here. Equally graven on my memory is a much less 
familiar little poem my widowed mother used to say 
to me as we walked together up and down the gravel 
paths, with the primrose sky behind the tall Beeches of 
the neighbouring park. For years I never knew where it 
came from, nor where she learnt it in her own sentimental 
youth. Not long ago I found it in a book of selections. 
It was written by John Hamilton Eeynolds, that warm 
friend of poor Keats, who, as Mr. Sidney Colvin tells us 
in his charming Life of the poet, never rose to any great 



6 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

eminence in either literature or law, and died in 1852, as 
clerk of the county, at Newport, Isle of Wight. As Mr. 
Colvin remarks, it is only in his association with Keats 
that his name will live. Yet my mother loved the poem, 
which is full of the sentiment of our little home : — 

Go where the water gUcieth gently ever, 

Glideth through meadows that the greenest be ; 
Go, listen to our own beloved river, 

And think of me. 

Wander in forests where the small flower layeth 

Its fairy gem beneath the giant tree ; 
Listen to the dim brook pining while it playeth. 
And think of me. 

Watch when the sky is silver pale at even, 

And the wind grieveth in the lonely tree ; 
Go out beneath the solitary heaven, 
And think of me. 

And when the moon riseth as she were dreaming. 

And treadeth with white feet the lulled sea, 
Go, silent as a star beneath her beaming, 
And think of me. 

But enough of these old woman's recollections, and back 
to the present, for the sentiment of one generation is very 
apt to appear as worthless sentimentahty to the next. 

The garden I have now is a small piece of fiat ground 
surrounding an ordinary suburban house. Kitchen- 
garden, flower-garden, house and drive can scarcely cover 
more than two acres. The garden is surrounded by large 
forest trees, Spanish Chestnuts and Oaks, whose wicked 
roots walk into all the beds almost as fast as we cut them 
off. The soil is dry, light and sandy, and ill-adapted to 
garden purposes. We are only sixteen miles from London, 
and on unfavourable days, when the wind is in the 
blighting south-east, the afternoons are darkened by 
the smoke of the huge city. This is an immense dis- 



JANUARY 7 

advantage to all plant life and very injurious to Eoses 
and many other things. For five or six months in the 
winter I live away in London. People often envy me 
this, and say : ' What could you do in the garden in the 
winter? ' But no true gardener would make this remark, 
as there is much to be done at all times and seasons. 
Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of 
the imagination. You are always living three, or indeed 
six, months hence. I believe that people entirely devoid 
of imagination never can be really good gardeners. To 
be content with the present, and not striving about the 
future, is fatal. 

Living in London in the winter necessitates crowding 
the little greenhouse to overflowing with plants and 
flowers adapted for sending to London — chosen because 
they will bear the journey well, and live some time in 
water on their arrival. 

January IQth. — I can hardly do better to-day than 
tell you about my dark London room, and what I have in 
it as regards plant life in this the worst month of the year. 
I will begin with the dead and dried things that only bear 
the memory of the summer which is gone. At the door 
stand two bright-green olive-jars that came from Spain, 
into which are stuck large bunches of the white seed-vessels 
of Honesty and some flowers of Everlastings {Helichrysum 
bracteatum). These last are tied in bunches on to Bamboo 
sticks, to make them stand out. Inside the room, on the 
end of the piano, is a large dish of yellow, green, and white 
Gourds. I grow them because they have that peculiar 
quality, in common with Oranges and autumn leaves, of 
appearing to give out in the winter the sunlight they have 
absorbed in the summer. Their cultivation does not 
always succeed with me, as they want a better, sunnier 
place than I can sometimes afford to give them. In a 
very wet summer they fail altogether. The seeds are 



8 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

sold in mixed packets ; we sow them at the end of April 
grow them on in heat, and plant them out at quite the 
end of May. In fact, we treat them exactly as you would 
Vegetable-marrows, only we train them over a fence. 

On the backs of my armchairs are thin Liberty silk 
oblong bags, like miniature saddle-bags, filled with dried 
Lavender, Sweet Verbena, and Sweet Geranium leaves. 
This mixture is much more fragrant than the Lavender 
alone. The visitor who leans back in his chair wonders 
from where the sweet scent comes. 

On the side ledge of two large windows I have pots 
of the common Ivy of our hedges. We dig it up any time 
in the spring, and put it into the pots, which are then 
sunk into the gi'ound under the shade of some wall, and 
kept well watered. Before bringing it into the room in 
winter, it is trained up on an iron stake or Bamboo-cane, 
singly or in bunches, to give variety to its shapes. If kept 
tolerably clean and watered, this Ivy is pi'actically unkill- 
able, even in London. 

Then there are some pots of the long-suffering Aspidis- 
tras, the two kinds — variegated and dark green. These also 
want nothing but plenty of water, and sponging the dust 
off the leaves twice a week. They make pretty pot-plants 
if attended to during the summer in the country. They 
should be well thinned out and every injured leaf cut off, 
tied together towards the middle, kept growing all the 
summer in the greenhouse, and encouraged to grow tall ; 
they are then more graceful and satisfactory. They 
seldom want dividing or re-potting. I have two sorts of 
India-rubber plants — the large-leaved, straight-growing 
common Ficus elastica, and the Fmis elastica indica, 
which is a little more delicate, and the better for more 
heat in summer ; but it has a smaller leaf, and grows in a 
much more charming way than the other. Keeping the 
leaves very clean is of paramount importance with both 



JANUARY 9 

these plants. During the winter they want very little 
watering, yet should never be allowed to get quite dry, as 
this would make the leaves droop. If, on the other hand, 
you see a single yellow spot on the leaves, you may be 
sure that they are too damp ; and, if watering is continued, 
the leaves will turn yellow, and eventually fall one by one. 
When they are growing in heat during the summer, they 
must be watei?ed freely and the leaves well syringed. 
Both kinds propagate very easily. The top shoots strike 
in sand and heat ; and so do single leaves, if cut out with 
the eye and stuck round the edge of the pot. Another 
plant on the window-sill, Phalangium liliago variegatum, 
is of the same family as St. Bruno's Lily, that lovely 
early June flower in our gardens. It makes a most 
excellent pot-plant, young or old, for a room at all times 
of the year. It has a charming growth, and throws out 
branches on which young plants grow ; these can be left 
alone, or cut off and potted up in small pots, in which case 
they root easily in summer, or in a little heat at other 
times of the year. The flower which comes on the plant 
in summer is quite insignificant. It is very easy of 
cultivation, though not quite hardy ; and yet, when grown 
in a little heat, has all the appearance of the foliage of a 
delicate stove-plant. 

In the middle of the room is a Pandamis veitchii. 
This must be sparingly watered. It is a delightful winter 
pot-plant in all its sizes. The offsets that come round 
the stems of the old plant root very easily in heat. It 
does not mind the heat of the fire, but resents frost on the 
window-pane. Cocos tveddeliana and its varieties are 
most useful and well-known drawing-room plants, from 
South America. To save time, it is best to buy small 
plants from a nurseryman, and grow them on. They can, 
however, be grown from seed in a hot-bed in spring, but 
they are not very quick growers. 



lo POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

I have, wedged in Japanese vases in the Japanese way, 
which is so highly decorative,' two branches of Physalis 
Alkekengi (Winter Cherry) grown from seed. They last 
much longer in a room, I find, if cut, stuck into clean 
water, and held up by the wedge, than they do when 
growing in a pot; cutting the plants well back makes 
them a better shape, and they flower and fruit more freely 
the following year. 

In a brass Indian vase on a corner of the chimney- 
piece there are some long branches of the Double Plum 
{Prurms spinosa flore pleno). These branches, with their 
bright green, bring spring into the room more effectively 
than anything I know. The little shrub is easy of 
cultivation, and more than most things repays potting-up 
and forcing. We plant them out in spring in a half- 
shady reserve border, and in August we cut with a spade 
round the roots of those plants which we intend to pot 
up in October. They do best if allowed to rest alternate 
years. The charming single Deutzia gracilis is treated in 
exactly the same way. 

Never forget, in the arranging of cut flowers, that all 
shrubby plants and many perennials last much longer 
in water if the stalks are peeled. The reason is obvious : 
the thick bark prevents the absorption of enough water. 
In the case of succulent plants, splitting up the ends of 
the stalks is often sufficient. 

On a table below the chimney-piece is a small 
flower-glass filled with a pretty early greenhouse flower, 

' For a description of what this means I must refer you to 
Mr. J. Conder's interesting book {The Floiuers of Japan and the Art 
of Floral Arrangement), and to a review of it reprinted at the end 
of this volume, by kind permission of Mr. W. Eobinson, from The 
Garden (37 Southampton Street, Strand) of October 6th, 1894. My 
allusions to cut-flower decorations all the year round will not be 
understood without a careful reading of this article. 



JANUARY I £ 

orange and red, called Chorozemia, which does well in 
water. I have made a considerable study of the things 
that last well in water, as my greenhouse room is very 
limited, and it has to hold all the plants that are planted 
out next summer. The usual Privmla sinensis, 
Cinerarias, and many other things die before they get up 
to London at all. In summer the study is for the sake 
of my friends, as I send away flowers in large quantities, 
and I know nothing so disappointing as to receive in 
London a box of flowers, none of which are capable of re- 
viving when put into water. On the table, by the side of 
the glass mentioned above, stands a little saucer with 
precious, sweet-smelling Geranium leaves. These float 
on the water, patterning the white surface of the saucer, 
and supporting the delicious scented flowers, so valuable 
in January, of the Chimonanthus fragrans, with its pretty 
brown and yellow petals growing, as they do, on the bare 
branches of the shrub. My plant of ChimonantMis is 
against a wall. It flowers every year with a little care, for 
it is not very old, but it does not grow in our light soil 
with the strength and luxuriance it acquires in clay or 
loam. In Hertfordshire, for instance, quite long branches 
can be cut from it, which look very beautiful in the Japanese 
wedges. Our plant gets sufficiently pruned by cutting 
back the flowering branches. We water it thoroughly 
with liquid manure when the leaves are forming in May, 
and mulch it with rotten manure in October. Jasmimtm 
nudifloruvi, which also flowers well in the winter with us, 
we treat in the same way, only pruning out whole branches 
when it has done flowering in spring. No general 
cutting-back is desirable, as that spoils the growth of the 
plant for picking next year. In separate different- sized 
glasses round the saucer I have a bunch of Neapolitan 
Violets, some Eoman Hyacinths, Ivy-leaved sweet 
Geraniums, and an excessively pretty light-red Amaryllis, 



12 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

from bulbs sent to me this autumn straight from 
Mauritius, which flower well in the little stove. All 
these come from a small greenhouse, part of which 
is divided off so as to allow of its being kept at 
stove heat. A fortnight ago we had large bunches of 
Echeveria retnsa, a most useful, easily managed, winter- 
flowering plant. It looks very well on the dinner-table, 
and lasts a long time in water. Dividing and re-potting 
in April, and keeping it on a sunny shelf through the 
summer, is almost all the care it requires. Freesias, too, 
are well worth growing. The success of all Cape flower- 
ing bulbs seems to depend on the attention paid to the plant 
w^hile the leaves are still growing. Many gardeners, when 
they have cut the flowers, neglect the plants. When the 
leaves die down, the bulbs want well baking and drying 
up in fuU sun, laying the pots on their sides, shaking out 
the bulbs in June or July, sorting them, taking off 
the young ones, re-potting, and growing on for early 
forcing. 

On a flower-table by the window are glasses with 
evergreens. I always cut with discretion my Magnolia 
grandiflora ; not a very large plant either, yet I think it 
does it nothing but good. The clean, shiny, dark-green 
leaves, with their beautiful rust-red lining, are so efi"ective 
in a room ; and if the stalks are peeled, they last quite 
a month in water without deterioration. You know, I 
daresay, the old nursery secret of growing either wheat 
or canary-seed on wet moss. You fill some shallow pan 
or small basin with moss, and keep it quite wet. Sow 
your seed thickly on the moss, and put the pan away in a 
dark cupboard for nine or ten days. When about two 
inches high, bring it out and put it in a sunny window, 
turning it round, so as to make it grow straight. Wheat 
is white at the base with brave little sword-blades of green, 
on which often hangs a drop of clear water. Canary-seed is 



JANUARY 13 

red, like Ehubarb, at the bottom and green at the top. I 
know nothing more charming to grow in dull town rooms 
or sick rooms than these two seeds. They come to per- 
fection in about three weeks, and last for another five or 
six. Grown in small saucers, they make a pretty dinner- 
table winter decoration. Another rather effective change 
for a dinner-table is the leaves of Bamboos, put all day into 
water to prevent them curling up. They are then laid on 
the table-cloth in a Japanese pattern, according to the taste 
of the decorator, with an occasional flower to give point 
to the design. Double red Geraniums, late-flowering 
Chrysanthemums, Primulas, even clumps of Holly or 
red berries, all do equally well for this purpose. 

Growing acorns, either suspended by a thin wire in a 
bottle, or planted in wet moss — five or six of them together 
— in flat pans, are pretty. If put into heat in October, they 
are in full leaf in the middle of January ; but if grown 
in a cool room, the leaves only expand later. 

I think it may be desirable for me to say something 
each month about cooking. Many people neglect to use 
things which are now so easily got with or without a 
garden. This foreign way of cooking Potatoes makes 
a nice variety : — After partially boiling them, cut the 
Potatoes into slices when cold, and put them into a 
saucepan. Cover them with milk to finish cooking them, 
and add fresh butter. Parsley, pepper, and salt. 

Salsifys are quite easily grown, and are very good if 
throvpn into vinegar and water, well oiled, cut into small 
slices, and warmed up with a white sauce in shells, like 
scalloped oysters. x\dd a little cheese and breadcrumbs, 
and brown in the oven. 

No one who cares for vegetables and has a garden 
should fail to refer constantly to ' The Vegetable Garden,' 
akeady mentioned. It is an invaluable book, and the 
number and variety of the vegetables it describes is a 



14 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

revelation to those who have only the ordinary English 
idea of the vegetables that are worth growing. 

Celeriac is an excellent vegetable, not very common in 
England, and, when carefully cooked, with a good brown 
sauce, forms a valuable contribution to the winter supply. 
One of the constant difficulties in the management of a 
house, whether large or small, where the vegetables are 
grown and not bought, is that the gardener brings them in, 
and the cook throws them away into a corner of the scullery 
or into the pig-tub. Only last summer a gardener from a 
large place in the neighbourhood said to me while walking 
round my small garden : ' What ! you grow Cardoons ? 
I took in beautiful ones last year, but they were never 
used ; the cook said she didn't know how to cook them.' 
The following is a good receipt : — The length of time 
Cardoons require in cooking depends on age and size, and 
varies from half an hour to three or four hours. Scrape 
the stalks, and pull off all that is thready outside. Cut 
them into bits about four or five inches long, or longer if 
served in a long narrow dish with marrow on toast at each 
end. As you cut them, throw them into a basin full of 
water, into which you put a little flour to keep them a 
good colour. When all are prepared, have ready a large 
crockery stewpan with boiling water, herbs, a little salt 
and pepper, and a good-sized piece of raw bacon. The 
rind of the bacon should be cut in little bits, but not so 
small as to get mixed with the Cardoons. Boil the whole 
slowly, and prepare a brown sauce apart with well- 
flavoured stock. Thicken this with flour (burnt to a light- 
coffee colour), butter, and a little sherry. Let it simmer 
for two hours, skimming it well. Strain it half an hour 
before serving. 

The American Cranberries, so generally and so cheaply 
sold in London, are very pretty and very nice if well stewed 
in a crockery saucepan with water and sugar ; a small 



JANUARY 15 

pinch of powdered ginger brings out their flavour. They 
are always eaten in America with turkeys, as we eat 
apple-sauce with goose. Many people do not know that 
turkeys are natives of America, and that the Prench 
word dinde is merely a shortening of coq d'Inde (India 
being the name given to America for some time after its 
discovery). It is curious to think that these birds, now 
so common an article of food at this time of year, were 
totally unknown to the luxurious Eomans. The Cran- 
berries should not be mashed up, but should look like 
stoned cherries in syrup. They can be eaten with chicken 
or game, or with roast mutton instead of red-currant 
jelly. In Norway the small native Cranberry is eaten 
with any stew, especially with hares and ptarmigan. 
The custom of eating sweets with meat seems to come 
to us from Germany and the North ; the French hate it. 
One of the eternal trials to every housekeeper is the 
making of coffee. I always use half Mocha and half 
Plantation. When in the country, I roast the beans 
at home ; and the two kinds must be done separately, 
as they are not the same size. For breakfast coffee a 
small quantity of ground Chicory — the best French — is 
a great improvement, and increases the health-giving 
properties of coffee and milk ; but it should never be used 
for black coffee. The beans should in damp weather be 
warmed and dried a little before grinding; it freshens 
them up, as it does biscuits. One of the mysterious 
reasons for the flat tastelessness of coffee one day and not 
another is the coffee-grinder not being cleaned out ; a 
tablespoonful of stale ground coffee will spoil the 
whole. Other reasons are — either the water not boil- 
ing, or the water having boiled a long time, or water 
that has boiled and cooled being warmed up again ; this 
is fatal, as it is with tea. I find the modern crockery 
percolators a great improvement on the old tin ones, 



1 6 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

which make very good coffee for a short time ; but the 
Hning rubs off, and the tin gets black inside, which will 
destroy the colour of the best coffee. At Goode's, in 
Audley Street, or at the Atmospheric Churn Company, in 
Bond Street, they will sell you any portion of these 
percolators apart ; and the most terrible of breakers can 
hardly smash everything at once. Many cooks refuse to 
use Goode's excellent crockery fireproof stewpans, on 
the plea that they break. But new ones cost no more 
than the re-tinning of copper stewpans, which has to be 
done every year. For all stews, and for the cooking of 
vegetables and fruit, they are invaluable — and, in the 
case of fruit, indispensable. 

January l^ith. — One excellent way of arranging 
flowers in most rooms is to have a table, a kind of altar, 
especially dedicated to them. This does the flowers or 
plants much more justice than dotting them about the 
room. If, however, flowers or branches are arranged in 
vases in the Japanese style, the more they are isolated in 
prominent places that show them off, the better. 

I am now staying with a friend who has no stove, 
only one greenhouse ; and her flower-table, standing in the 
window, looks charming. At the back are two tall glass 
vases with Pampas grass in them, feathery and white, 
as we never can keep it in London ; a small Eucalyptus- 
tree in a pot, cut back in summer and well shaped ; a 
fine pot of Arums, just coming into flower ; a small fern 
in front, and a bunch of paper-white Narcissus. These 
last, I fear, must have been grown elsewhere, as they 
could not be so early here without heat and very careful 
growing-on. 

January %)th. — I came from London, to pass two 
or three days in the country and look after my garden, 
as usual. I make lists and decide on the seeds for 
the year, and look to the mulching of certain plants. 



JANUARY 17 

Hardly anything grows here to perfection when left 
alone. Most plants require either chalk, peat, leaf- 
mould or cow-manure, and half-tender things are now 
the better for covering up with matting or Bracken-fern. 
It is seldom of any use to come so early as this ; but 
there has been no cold this year, though one feels 
it must come. Oh ! such days and days of gloom and 
darkness ; but to-day the wind freshened from the north- 
east, and I could breathe once more. How delightful 
it is to be out of London again ! There is always plenty 
to do and to enjoy. How the birds sing, as if it were 
spring ! I love the country in winter ; one expects nothing, 
and everything is a joy and a surprise. The Preesias are 
flowering well ; they improve each year as the bulbs get 
larger. Cyclamens are in the greenhouse, and a large, 
never-failing, old white Azalea, which forces faithfully and 
uncomplainingly every year, and from which we cut so 
many blooms. 

The first Aconite ! Does any flower in summer give the 
same pleasure ? The blue-green blades of the Daffodils 
and Jonquils are firmly and strongly pushing through 
the cold brown earth ; nothing in all the year gives such a 
sense of power and joy. One is grateful, too, for our 
Surrey soil and climate — to live where it never can rain 
too much, and where it never accords with Shelley's 
wonderful description of damp ; — 

And hour by hour, when the an* was still, 
The vapours arose which have strength to kill. 
At morn they were seen, at noon they were felt, 
At night they were darkness no star could melt. 

These mild winters have a wonderful effect on plant 
life. The Solanum jasminoides looks as fresh as in 
November, and as if he meant to stand it out ; we shall 
see. In front of my window, on the ground floor, I have 

c 



1 8 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

been rigging up a delightful arrangement for feeding Tom- 
tits. I hang half a pound of suet and a cocoanut on either 
end of a piece of thick string. This should be long 
enough to reach the lower window when suspended from 
a small iron rod by a ring hanging at the end of it, the 
rod being nailed to the window-sill above. The string is 
passed through the top of the cocoanut, of which the 
bottom is cut off, making a hole large enough for a bird 
to get in. It greatly adds to the artistic effect to hang 
the cocoanut about a foot lower than the suet, or vice 
versd. The small birds cling to the string while they 
peck their food, and so make a continual and beautiful 
design. To help them to cling, a few little crossbars of 
wood are knotted into the string and form a sort of rough 
ladder. In really cold weather, or with snow on the 
ground, they become wonderfully tame. Another way is 
to plant a post in the ground with one or two cross-bars 
nailed to the top, on which are hung similar arrangements 
to those just described of cocoanut and suet, or an old 
bone. 

This warm winter has suited the Christmas Eoses, which 
are uncommonly good. The great secret in light soils is 
to mulch them well while they are making their leaves. 
Water them with liquid manure when their flower-buds 
are forming, and protect them with lights in the flowering 
season, especially keeping them from heavy rains or 
snow. For these reasons grow them in a bed by them- 
selves. In the greenhouse I found a Choisya ternata, 
which I had cut back hard last May, covei'ed all over 
with its beautiful white flowers. It had been forced in 
the stove for about ten days. This is a most delightful 
plant in every way, easy to strike and to layer, quite 
hardy ; though, when growing outside, the flowers are 
sometimes a little injured by hard late frosts. It is invalu- 
able for cutting to send to London at all times of year, as 



JANUARY 19 

it lasts for a long time in water, and the shiny dark-green 
leaves look especially well with any white flowers. The 
more it is cut, the better the plant flourishes. Every 
spare piece of wall should have a plant of Choisya against 
it. It is restrained and yet free in its growth, and is 
therefore even more useful in small gardens than in large 
ones. It does very well in light soil, but responds to a 
little feeding. I have some giant Violets which I got 
from the South of France ; here, I believe, they are called 
' Princess Beatrice.' They are twice the size of Czars, 
and very sweet. They are doing well in the frame, but 
look rather draggled and miserable outside ; after all, it is 
only the end of January. 

In mid- winter my heart warms to the common Laurels. 
In wet winters, especially, they look so flourishing and 
happy, and they will grow in such bad places. I am sure 
I shall abuse them so often that I must say, however 
much they are reduced in a garden, keep some plants 
in places where few other things would flourish. They 
will always remain a typical example of Mme. de Stael's 
good description of evergreens : — ' Le deuil de I'^t^ 
et I'ornement de I'hiver.' All hardy fruit-trees, like 
Jasminum nudiflorum and Gliimonanthus fragrans, are 
better pruned in January than in February, if the weather 
make it possible. 

January 22nd. — I take back to London with me to- 
day, amongst other things, some Lachenalia aurea. All 
Lachenalias are worth growing. They are little Cape 
bulbs, which have to be treated like the Freezias, watered 
as long as the leaves are green, and then dried. They 
all force well, and L. aurea flowers earlier than the other 
Lachenahas, and is very pretty and effective. This 
variety has the great merit of being a true yellow by 
candle-light. 

Walking along the streets to-day, I stopped to look at 



20 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

a really beautiful large cross, entirely composed of moss 
dotted all over with the lovely little early single Snow- 
drops. Although I have the strongest objection to the 
modern use of flowers for the dead, natural and lovable 
as was the original idea, I had to admire this specimen. 
Could a more beautiful winter memorial for a young girl 
be seen, or one which better carries out in these cold 
days the idea of the French poet Malherbe ? 

EUe etait du monde ou les plus belles choses 

Ont le pire destin ; 
Et rose, elle a vecu ce que vivent les roses — 

L'espace d'un matin. 

The French have carried the abuse of this fashion of 
funeral wreaths and crosses to an even greater extent than 
we have here. I shall never forget once in Paris going 
up to the Pere-Lachaise cemetery on a fine morning to 
visit the grave of a young and much-lamented woman. 
The wreaths were so numerous that they had to be taken 
up in a cart the day before. The night had been wet, and 
the surroundings of the grave were a mass of unapproach- 
able corruption and decay. 

Last April, when I was at Kew, the gardener there 
shook into my pocket-handkerchief a little seed of 
Cineraria cruenta, the type-plant from the Cape, and the 
origin of all the Cinerarias of our greenhouses. It has a 
very different and much taller growth than the cultivated 
ones, and I am most anxious to see if it will do in water, 
which the ordinary ones do not. It varies in shade from 
pale to deep lilac, rather like a Michaelmas Daisy. Get- 
ting seeds from abroad of type-plants is very interesting 
gardening. Pelargoniums of all kinds are weeds at the 
Cape, and, in order to be able to resist the long droughts, 
they have, in South Africa, tuberous roots like Dahlias. 
This is well seen in Andrews' 'Botanist's Eepository,' 



JANUARY 21 

which I shall mention among the March books. Pelar- 
goniums, under cultivation and with much watering, no 
longer require these tubers, and they disappear. Seed 
was sent to me from some of the wild plants at the Cape, 
and even the first year, as the plants grew, there were 
the little tubers, quite marked and distinct. 

January 31s^. — With the high temperature we have 
had this year, one is apt to forget the horrors of a severe 
winter, till reminded just lately by two very cold nights. 
The frosted windows of my bedroom made me think of a 
charming little poem which appeared last year in the 
Pall Mall Gazette at the time of the very cold weather :- 



JOHN FROST 

The door was shut, as doors should be, 
Before you went to bed last night, 

Yet John Frost has got in, you see, 
And left your windows silver white. 

He must have waited till you slept, 

And not a single word he spoke, 
But pencill'd o'er the panes and crept 

Away again before you woke. 

And now you cannot see the trees 

Nor fields that stretch beyond the lane ; 

But there are fairer things than these 
His fingers traced on every pane. 

Rocks and castles towering high, 

Hills and dales, and streams and fields. 

And knights in armour riding by 

With plumes and spears and shining shields. 

And here are little boats, and there 
Big ships with sails spread to the breeze ; 

And yonder palm-trees, waving fair 
On islands set in silver seas 



2 2 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

And butterflies with gauzy wings, 

And birds and bees, and cows and sheep, 

And fruit and flowers, and all the things 
You see when you are sound asleep. 

For, creeping softly underneath 

The door when all the lights are out, 
John Frost takes every breath you breathe, 

And knows the things you think about. 

He paints them on the window-pane, 

In fairy lines, with frozen steam ; 
And when you wake, you see again 

The wondrous things you saw in dream. 

Londoners have the great advantage, in hard frosts, 
of being able to enjoy these frozen pictures, for nowhere 
can they be seen to such perfection as on the large 
window-panes of cold empty shops. Many people must 
have remarked this last winter. 



23 



FEBBUABY 

Forced bulbs — The exhibitions of the Eoyal Horticultural Society — 
Early spring salads and vegetables — Khubarb tarts — Orange 
marmalade — Receipts by a French chef. 

February 8th. — This is essentially the month of forced 
bulbs — Hyacinths, Tulips, Jonquils, Narcissuses — charm- 
ing things in themselves, and within easy reach of everyone 
who can afford to buy them either as bulbs in the autumn 
or as cut flowers from the shops in spring. Bulbs do not 
even require a greenhouse, as they can be grown in a 
cellar and then in a frame, or, with care, quite as success- 
fully in a room with a south window. They depend on 
attention, and the result is so certain that they are not 
very interesting to the gardener, nor do they represent 
any variety of gi'eenhouse culture. All the spring bulbs 
are cultivated in much the same way. Any of the old 
garden books pubHshed between 1840 and 1850, 
especially Mrs. Loudon's ' Gardening for Ladies,' give 
detailed instructions on the growing of bulbs in pots and 
glasses, and in all other ways. 

One of my great pleasures in London in the early 
spring is going to the exhibition of the Eoyal Horticultural 
Society, at the Drill Hall, Westminster. I think all 
amateurs who are keen gardeners ought to belong to this 
society — partly as an encouragement to it, and also 
because the subscriber of even one guinea a year gets a 
great many advantages. He can go to these fortnightly 



24 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

exhibitions, as well as to the great show at the Temple 
Gardens in May, free, before the public is admitted. He 
has the run of the society's library in Victoria Street; 
he receives free the yearly publications, which are a series 
of most interesting lectures (I will give some account of 
them at the end of the year) ; and he is annually presented 
with a certain number of plants. These fortnightly 
meetings at the Drill Hall are instructive and varied, 
though they might be much more so. Nevertheless, I 
think an amateur cannot go to them without learning 
something, and I am surprised to find how few people take 
advantage of them. The entrance fee is only a shilling. 
I went to one of these exhibitions the other day. The 
great mass of blooms shown consisted of beautifully grown 
potfuls of Cyclamens in great variety of colour, and of 
Chinese Primulas ; these last, to my mind, are rather 
uninteresting plants, but they show great improvement 
in colour as now cultivated. What pleased me most 
were miniature Irises, grown in flat pans, and some 
charming spring Snowflakes {Leucojum vernum) grown in 
pots. These are far more satisfactory grown in this way 
than are the finest Snowdrops in pots, their foliage being 
so much prettier. The little blue Scillas are extremely 
effective grown in pans through a carpet of the ordinary 
mossy Saxifrage. 

February 14^/i. — Salads are rather a difiiculty during 
the early spring in Enghsh gardens. In seasonless 
London everything is always to be bought. I wonder 
why Mdche (Corn Salad, or Lamb's Lettuce), so much 
grown in France, is so little cultivated here? People 
fairly well up in gardening come back from France in the 
winter, thinking they have discovered something new. 
Mdche is a little difiicult to grow in very light soils, and 
the safest plan is to make several sowings in July and 
August. We find it most useful, but, without constant 



FEBRUARY 25 

reminding, no English gardener thinks of it at all, though 
it is in all the seed catalogues. As it is an annual, with- 
out sowing you naturally don't get it ; and if sown too late, 
it is bound to fail. In very dry weather we have to water 
it at first. 

If Beetroot is carelessly dug up and the roots broken, 
they bleed, which causes them to come to the table pale 
and tasteless. This is the fault of the gardener, not of the 
cook. Some English cooks boil them in vinegar ; this 
hardens them, and makes them unwholesome. They are 
much better slowly baked in an oven, and not boiled at all. 
The poor Beetroot is often considered unwholesome, but 
if it is served with a little of the water it is boiled in, or if 
baked with a little warm water poured over it, a squeeze 
of lemon instead of vinegar, and a little oil added, I think 
the accusation is unjust. Beetroot served hot and cut in 
slices, with a white Bechamel sauce {see ' Dainty Dishes '), 
makes a very good winter vegetable. The Old Enghsh 
dish of Beetroot sliced and laid round a soup-plate with 
pulled Celery, mixed with a Mayonnaise sauce, built up in 
the middle, is excellent with all roast meats. At all the 
best Italian grocers' in London they sell a dried Green 
Pea from Italy, which makes a pretty pur^e both as a 
vegetable and as a soup in winter, especially if coloured 
with a very little fresh Spinach, not the colouring sold by 
grocers. The Peas must be soaked all night, then well 
boiled, rubbed smooth through a sieve, and a little cream 
and butter added. A nicer winter vegetable cannot be. 
It is really made exactly like the old pease-pudding served 
with pork, only not nearly so dry. 

Imantophilums are one of the most effective and 
beautiful of our greenhouse plants at this time of the year, 
and last very well in water. We kept ours out of doors 
in an open pit all through last summer. As they threw 
up several flower-spikes, which we picked off, we feared 



26 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

that they might not do so well this spring ; instead of 
which, I think they have never done better or flowered 
more freely. A little liquid manure helps them when 
in flower. Though a Cape plant, the leaves do not die 
down ; and so it must be kept growing, or the foliage is 
injured. 

February 27th. — I have lately evolved a good spring 
vegetable dish. The common green Turnip-tops, which 
are wholesome, but not palatable if plainly boiled, are 
delicious when treated like the French puree of Spinach 
{see ' Dainty Dishes '), rubbed through a sieve, and mixed 
with butter and cream. They are a beautiful bright 
green. In the country young Nettles done in the same 
way are very good, but they must be fresh— a state in 
which they are not to be had in large towns. I have been 
told how curious it is that nettles never grow in absolutely 
wild places, but are only to be found in localities more or 
less haunted by man. 

I think Ehubarb, which is so largely grown and 
eaten in England, both forced and out of doors, is never 
used on the Continent. I wonder if this is because it 
does not stand the severe frosts of the mid-Europe 
winters. We dig up plants and put them into boxes, and 
force them under the frames of our greenhouse. For 
later eating, we also cover it in the garden, as everybody 
does, with pots smTounded by leaves. I do not think 
that the ordinary English tart is the best way of cooking 
Ehubarb, unless done in the following manner : — When 
young and tender, cut it up into pieces the length of a 
finger, and throw them into cold water, to prevent the ends 
drying, while a syrup is prepared in an earthenware sauce- 
pan with sugar, a few of the rough pieces of the Ehubarb, 
and a small pinch of ginger. Throw the cold water away 
from the Ehubarb, strain the syrup, boil it up, and pour it 
over the pieces. Stew it for a very short time till tender 



FEBRUARY 27 

without mashing it up. It looks better if the pieces are 
slightly arranged in the dish. If anything iron touches 
the Ehubarb or the syrup, they turn purple and look 
horrid. Properly cooked, Ehubarb should be of a pretty 
pink or green colour. Many doctors forbid it. I think it 
probably may be unwholesome for meat-eating people ; 
this is the case with so many fruits and vegetables. 

All my tarts throughout the year are made with the 
crust baked apart, and the fruit, stewed previously, juicy 
and cold. Shortly before dinner make the paste called 
in ' Dainty Dishes ' ' crisp paste ' for tarts ; crumple up 
kitchen paper into a mound the height you wish your 
crust to be, place it in the pie-dish— the round-shaped 
dishes are the prettiest — cover this with a clean sheet of 
buttered paper, lay your paste over this, bake in the usual 
way. When done, lift off the crust, take out the paper, 
pour in the fruit (which can be iced, if desired), put a 
little raw white of egg round the rim of the pie-dish, and 
replace the crust. In this way an orange or a strawberry 
tart can be made without cooking the fruit at all, except 
in the usual compote way of pouring boiling syrup over it. 

Towards the end of February is the best time for 
making Orange Marmalade {see ' Dainty Dishes '), as the 
Seville oranges in London are then at their best. In all 
cases when old jam pots, glasses, &c., are used for pre- 
serving, it is very desirable to wash them thoroughly in 
clean water, avoiding all soda or soap, and, when dry, 
powder them with a little sulphur and wipe clean. If 
soda is used in anything connected with fruit, it has an 
injurious chemical action. 

The following are the translations of a few careful 
receipts which were written out by a very excellent French 
chef. They belong to so entirely different a cuisine from 
our ordinary modest and economical receipts, that I think 
they may be not without interest to some people. It is 



28 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

worth noting how, when a really good French cook wishes 
to instruct, he is careful to go into the minutest details. 

Pot au feu Soup. — Proportions : 15 lbs. of beef, 
5|lb8. of veal, 1 chicken, 2| gallons of water, 3 fine'carrots, 
1 big turnip, 1 large onion, a bunch of parsley, half a head 
of celery, a parsnip, 2 cloves, and some salt. 

Eemove the fat and tie up the beef and the veal, putting 
them in a large saucepan ; fill the saucepan with cold 
water to within a little more than an inch £i"om the 
brim, place the saucepan on the fire with the lid off, 
add some salt, and let it boil till the scum shows on the 
surface ; remove it with a skimmer. As soon as it seems 
inclined to boil over, add a few spoonfuls of cold water, so 
as to make the scum accumulate as much as possible. 
When at last it boils violently, drop in the vegetables ; 
remove the saucepan to one side of the fire, so that it 
shall boil only on one side ; put on the lid, and let it boil 
undisturbed, evenly and regularly. After two hours 
remove the veal. An hour later add the chicken, and, 
three hours after, strain the soup, without stirring it up, 
through a strainer on to a napkin stretched over a 
receptacle large enough to contain the soup. The soup 
may be skimmed before or after straining. 

This stock does for making any kind of soup. Julienne, 
Brunoise, Croute au pot, and for all purees of vegetables. 

Consomme. — Consomm6 means the foundation of the 
soup ; this foundation ought always to be clear, lightly 
coloured, and, above all, strong. 

Take about 2 lbs. of beef and veal, without fat, chop 
them up together, and put into a basin. Add half of the 
white of an egg, work the meats with a wooden spoon and 
a glass of water, continue to mix with about IJ gallon of 
good strong stock ; put the whole into a small saucepan 
with some carcases of birds (raw or cooked), a branch of 
celery, and put it to boil on the fire ; stir it when there 



FEBRUARY 29 

with a wooden spoon, so that the meat shall not stick to 
the bottom. As soon as it bubbles, remove the saucepan 
to a very slow, very moderate, well-regulated fire for two 
hours. The stock, made in this way, ought to become 
a fine colour, and above all be very clear. Strain it 
through a napkin that has been previously rinsed in hot 
water. 

Julienne Soup. — Ingredients : 3 fine carrots, 2 tur- 
nips, 2 small pieces of celery, 2 sprigs of parsley, 1 onion, 
the quarter of a large Savoy cabbage, the hearts of 
2 lettuces, a bunch of sorrel, and a sprig of chervil. 

Scrape each of the vegetables according to its require- 
ments. The carrots are cut, in the thickest parts of them, 
in transverse sections, about two-thirds of an inch thick ; 
shape these into thin, even ribbons by turning the piece 
round and round till you reach the centre of the carrot, 
which is not used ; then cut these ribbons again into very 
fine shreds. Cut the turnips into squares ; divide them 
into oblong squares about two-thirds of an inch thick ; cut 
and make them into shreds like the carrots. Cut and shape 
the celery in the same way. Eemove the hard sides of 
the cabbage, and slice it as fine as possible. Shce in the 
same way the lettuces, parsley, and onions. The similarity 
of the vegetables, as much with regard to their thickness 
as to their length, must be strictly preserved ; it is one of 
the distinguishing characteristics of this soup. Now put 
a lump of butter into a good saucepan, rather a large one 
and very thick at the bottom. Add the vegetables, all 
except the cabbage and the sorrel ; these must be scalded 
in boiling water apart. Place the other vegetables on a 
slow fire till they turn a fine yellow colour without being 
burnt ; that is the chief characteristic of the soup. As 
soon as they are done to a turn, add about 2 quarts of 
good stock or consomme, and a pinch of sugar. When it 
bubbles, remove to side of fire ; add the sorrel and cabbage, 



30 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

after drying them, through a strainer or sieve. The bubbles 
should only appear on one side. Skim, and, while on 
the fire, remove the grease as it forms. Let it boil for an 
hour, if the vegetables are tender ; if not, for longer. 

Consomm^ aux Ailerons {Wing-hone Soup). — Cut 
up the whole of 3 or 4 carrots and 2 turnips into slices of 
about the thickness of a shilling. Cut in roimds of the 
same thickness, and shaped in the same column-shape, 
some cabbage leaves — very white ones. This done, wet 
the carrots first with about 2 pints of stock (consomm6). 
After it has boiled for an hour, add the turnips and 
cabbage. Let it boil quite gently by the side of the fire 
for a good hour, till the vegetables are quite cooked. 

Separately take 12 or 15 wing-bones of chickens, basted 
and well trimmed ; let them soak during 1 or 2 hours in 
tepid water, drain and put them into a small saucepan, 
cover them with stock, and boil up. One hour is enough 
to cook them. Drain the wings, trim them very neatly, 
bone them, put them in the soup-tureen, add some fried 
crusts of bread of the same thickness as the vegetables, 
also a bunch of chervil and a pinch of sugar, and put all 
together into the soup-tureen. The boiling of all these 
vegetables must be done quite slowly, so as to prevent the 
stock being disturbed. 

GnoCChi a la Creme. — Make a paste (pate a choux) 
as follows : — Ingredients : 4^ oz. of flour, 4| oz. of butter, 
1\ pint of water, 3 whole eggs (4 if small), a pinch of 
salt and of sugar. Put the water, salt, and sugar in a 
small saucepan on the fire ; when it begins to boil, add 
the flour all at once. Stir quickly with a wooden spoon, 
and, when well mixed, put the saucepan on a slower 
fire ; let it dry for a few minutes, and when smooth mix 
in the eggs, one by one, till smooth and thick, sticking 
to the saucepan. If the paste seems a little too dry, 
add a little cream — 2 or 3 spoonfuls. Add by degrees 



FEBRUARY 31 

3 or 4 spoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese. Take 
a smaller saucepan of water with some salt in it. When 
the water is boiling, remove it to the edge of the fire. 
Then take two tablespoons, and fill one with the paste, 
flattening it with a knife warmed in warm water so as to 
form the paste into an oval shape ; warm the other 
spoon, and push it under the quenelle to remove it from 
the first spoon ; then drop it into the boiling water. When 
all the quenelles are shaped in this way and thrown into 
the saucepan, put it on to the open fire, and let the 
quenelles poach for some minutes. As soon as they feel 
firm to the touch, remove the Gnocchi one by one with 
a strainer, and place them on a cloth till wanted. Make 
a Bechamel white sauce. Butter a souflS6-dish, place 
the quenelles round the bottom, in a single row one 
beside the other, sprinkle this first row with a little 
grated Parmesan, and add on the top another layer 
of Gnocchis, laid on alternately to the others. Hide 
the Gnocchis entirely with the sauce Bechamel, dust 
them over with a little grated Gruyfere, sprinkle them 
lightly with some melted butter, and put them to bake 
in a slow oven till well browned without being burnt. 
Given about forty to forty-five minutes of baking, the 
Gnocchi should swell to twice their original size. Serve 
at once. 

Bechamel Sauce.- — Cut into little squares the half of 
a carrot and a small onion ; take a small saucepan, put 
in a good bit of butter, add the vegetables, fry them 
lightly without letting them brown. This done, add a 
good tablespoonful of flour, and let the flour cook quite 
gently for several minutes on a moderate fire ; be es- 
pecially careful that it does not stick or get coloured, 
which would quite spoil its quality. This done, let it 
cool for a moment, then add little by Httle one pint and 
a half of boiling milk ; work and stir the sauce without 



32 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

ceasing until it boils, remove to side of a slow fire, and 
let it cook for an hour. Strain the sauce through a 
flannel or muslin into a bain-marie, with a pinch of salt, 
and of grated nutmeg very little. Add a good bit of 
butter while working it with a small egg-whisk. The 
sauce should be very smooth, creamy, and of a good 
flavour ; if by chance it is too thick, this can be remedied 
by adding a few spoonfuls of good, thick, and sweet 
cream. 

Pate a Ravioli. — Ingredients for the paste : 9 oz. of 
flour, the yelks of 4 eggs, a pinch of salt, a little tepid 
water. 

Put the flour on a marble slab, make a hole in the 
centre, add the yelks of the eggs and the salt, make a 
paste, not too solid ; when it is quite even, let it rest for an 
hour or two, and cover it with a cloth to prevent it from 
getting dry. 

Preparation for Ravioli. — Forcemeat of chicken, 
or, failing this, one can use veal, if nice and white and 
tender. Ingredients : 4| oz. of meat, 2J oz. of panade, 
I oz. of fresh butter, 2 yelks of eggs, salt, and nutmeg. 

Eemove the sinews and fat carefully from the 4^ oz. 
of meat. Cut it into little squares, and pound well in a 
mortar. Add the panade little by little; when mixed, 
add (only a little at a time) the butter when quite 
cooled and soHd, salt, and nutmeg ; mix these ingredients 
thorovighly, giving to them as much consistency as pos- 
sible. Now take some boiling salted water in a little 
saucepan, and test in it a little bit of the forcemeat the 
size of a walnut ; let it poach while well on the fire. 
If it is rather too firm, one can always add a spoonful 
of Bechamel or a little thick cream to moisten it. 

Parboil in water 1 lb. of spinach, strain it on to a 
moistened sieve — the sieve must have been well wiped 
to ensure no water remaining in it. Pass the spinach 



FEBRUARY ^^ 

through a fine wire sieve. This done, add to the force- 
meat two or three dessertspoonfuls of spinach, as much 
grated Parmesan cheese, some salt, pepper, and nutmeg, 
and a pinch of sugar. Mix all these well together. 

Now divide the paste into two equal parts ; roll one 
part out as thin as possible with a roller, keeping it square 
in shape ; slightly moisten the surface with a brush, put 
some of the forcemeat in a hnen jelly-bag with a narrow 
tin socket at the bottom, and drop little balls of the force- 
meat all over the surface, in straight lines about 2 in. to 
2| in. apart from each other. When the whole is covered, 
roll out the remainder of the paste to exactly the same 
size and shape, and place it carefully on the top of the 
other so as to fit exactly ; press down round each Ravioli 
with a small shaping-tin, so as to stick the two layers of 
paste together ; cut each Eavioli into rounds, and arrange 
them on a small lid of a saucepan floured over so that 
the paste should not stick to it. 

Have ready a saute-pan with some boiling water and 
salt in it. Five minutes before serving, drop the Ravioli 
into the water. As soon as they bubble up, remove to 
side of fire to finish cooking, strain them onto a sieve, from 
there into a saut^-pan (fairly large), powder them over 
with a little grated Parmesan, throw on the Bechamel 
sauce, which should be very smooth and not too thick ; 
finally, add a good-sized piece of fresh butter and a chip 
of Paplika. Stir quite gently, so as not to spoil the 
Eavioli, and serve them in a casserole or in a crust of 
pastry. 

Panade for the Forcemeat.— Put about a gill of 
water in a saucepan, with a bit of butter the size of a 
walnut. Put the saucepan on the fire ; as soon as it 
boils up, add one tablespoonful and a half of flour ; work 
the mixture at the side of the fire. This paste should be 
of a good, rather firm, consistency. Put it on to a rather 

£) 



34 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

flat dish. Butter the surface lightly, to keep it from 
drying, and put it to cool. 

Mousse de Volaille.— Take off the fillets, &c., of 
three chickens, cut them up into little dice, pound them 
into a mortar, and reduce them to a paste ; this done, 
pass them first through a wire sieve, and afterwards 
through a hair sieve or a quenelle sieve. Put this meat 
into a moderate-sized basin, and stand it in a cool place 
till wanted. Eemove the legs from the carcases of the 
chickens (these may be used for something else), wash 
the carcases in cold water, and let them soak for an hour. 

Now take 1| lb. of lean veal, mince it up rather fine, 
put it in a saucepan which will hold about three quarts 
of liquid, add the half of one white of egg ; mix all 
together, add two pints of water and nearly a quart of 
stock, one chopped onion, one carrot, a little celery, and 
the carcases ; boil up on a quick fire, stirring from time 
to time with a wooden spoon. As soon as it boils, remove 
to side of fire, so that it should only boil on one side, and 
quite slowly, removing the grease from time to time. 
Let it boil for three hours. Strain the foundation through 
a well-rinsed cloth. The above is the foundation for the 
Sauce Supreme. 

Sauce Supreme. — This sauce requires great care in 
making. Put in a saucepan 4^ oz. of butter and 3^ oz. of 
flour. Put the saucepan on a slow fire, and let the flour 
cook lightly without getting coloured. As soon as the 
flour is cooked, dilute it with the foundation of chicken, 
little by little, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon. 
So as to be able to spread it out without lumps, keep it 
much lighter than ordinary sauces. Stir it all the time 
till it boils; when remove it to side of fire, so that it 
should but just boil, and that only on one side. Add 
two or three raw chopped mushrooms ; as the butter and 
steam rise gently to the surface, remove them, and let 



FEBRUARY 35 

it cook for a good hour. Afterwards strain your sauce 
through a fine cullender into a frying-pan, more wide 
than deep. Put it on a hot fire, and stir without stopping 
with a wooden spoon to prevent it sticking ; this is an 
important point. Add one or two gills of good sweet 
cream. As soon as the sauce sticks to the spoon, that 
means it is ready. Strain it through a muslin in a little 
bain-marie ; stand the sauce to heat in a saucepan with 
hot water in it. 

Now put the half of a white of raw egg with the 
chicken, mix them well together, add little by little some 
good thick fresh cream, and make it blend as much as 
possible ; add three or four spoonfuls of cold Sauce 
Supreme, and about three gills of thick cream. Test 
it by dropping a little of the mixture into water. It 
should be soft, not too solid, and well-flavoured. Always 
try it before putting in all the cream, or it might become 
too limp, which would spoil its quahty. 

Butter the inside of a round cylinder- shaped mould 
with a hole in the centre of it. Put the mould on the 
ice for a moment to harden the butter. Fill the mould 
with the mixture up to about an inch from the rim. Tap 
the mould gently on a napkin folded several times to 
equalise the mixture and to heap it together, to prevent 
the holes which might form themselves inside the 
sponge. 

Put a little boiling water in a saucepan large enough 
to contain your mould, cover it with a lid, put it in a 
very slow oven, and let it poach for twenty-five to thirty 
minutes. See that the water in the saucepan does not 
boil, for which it is necessary from time to time to add a 
drop of cold water. Turn out the mould onto an entree- 
dish ; trim with one or two truffles cooked in Madeira. 
Cover the mould lightly with a little of the Sauce 
Supreme, and put the rest of the sauce in a sauce-boat. 

d2 



36 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Mousse de Foies Gras h la Gel^e.— Take a cylinder - 
shaped mould with an opening in the centre, put the 
mould for a second or two onto the ice. This done, pour 
into it a glassful of meat jelly, cold without being frozen. 
Turn your mould on the ice so as to line it — that is to 
say, to make the jelly adhere to the inside of the mould 
in a thin layer. Eeplace the mould onto the ice till wanted. 

Put into a saucepan or a bain-marie well cleaned out 
about three gills of good cream, thick and sweet, stand it 
on the ice for several hours ; when about to use it, beat 
it up with an egg- whisk for seven or eight minutes, 
without taking it off the ice. It should rise and become 
firm, like the white of an egg. Put it to strain through a 
fine strainer. 

Pound in a mortar a cooked foie-gras of from 1 lb. 3 oz. 
to 1 lb. 5 oz. in weight. Pass the foie-gras through a fine 
hair-sieve. Pound with the foie-gras 4| oz. of fresh 
butter, put it into a basin, and work it with an egg-whisk 
or wooden spoon, and absorb into it gradually three or 
four spoonfuls of Sauce Supreme, add a wineglassful of 
rather firm meat jelly. The jelly should be tepid and 
added quite gradually, working it in all the time so as to 
make it quite smooth and soft. Season with salt, pepper, 
and nutmeg. If it is winter, work it in a warm place to 
prevent its turning, add the whipped cream quickly, and 
fill up the mould to the rim. Put the mould into a good, 
sized jar, and cover it well with pounded ice, and surround 
the mould wnth it. Leave it in the ice for two hours or 
more, according to the season, and especially in summer. 
When ready to serve, have a basin filled with hot water, 
dip the mould into it so as to be entirely covered, that it 
may come away clearly from the mould. Trim with 
pieces of jelly. 

Nouilles Fraiches {Fresh Nouille Paste). — The paste 
for Nouille is made in exactly the same way as for 



FEBRUARY 37 

Eavioli, only it must be kept much firmer. Roll it out 
very thin with a roller, and flour it well, so as not to stick. 
Cut some strips about 3 in. wide, put several of them 
one on the top of the other, and slice them with a knife 
into very narrow strips, ^th of an inch wide or less. 
Spread them out onto a floured plate and cover them with 
a cloth. When ready to use them, throw them into a 
saucepan of boiling water with salt in it ; after boiling for 
two or three moments put the saucepan on the side of 
the fire, stirring a little. Let the paste cook for some 
miinutes, then strain them well, put them back in the 
same saucepan, add a good bit of fresh butter (about 4^ oz. 
to 5 oz.), three or four spoonfuls of grated Parmesan, salt, 
nutmeg, a pinch of sugar, and one of Paplika, a little veal- 
stock or meat gravy, mix all well together, and serve in 
a casserole. 

C^leris en branches, demi-glaces.— Pick and 
peel very carefully six or eight heads of celery, according 
to their size. Bleach them for fifteen or twenty minutes 
in boiling water, dip them in cold water to cool them, 
strain them onto a cloth, cut them in two if they are 
large, fasten them — that is, re-form the Celery by tying 
it together with a little string at each end. Put them 
into a saucepan with an onion, one carrot, and a little 
bunch of herbs — parsley, thyme, bay. Fill up to the 
brim with half stock and half fat— dripping. Boil it up, 
then let it cook quite gently by the side of a slow fire or 
in the oven. They ought to be just done to a turn after 
three or four hours. Strain them onto a cloth, cut them 
to equal sizes, remove the outside leaves, if they are hard, 
serve in a silver casserole, and sauce them over with a 
good half-glaze or a good veal gravy a little thickened. 

Lettuce can be treated in the same way. 



38 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



MABCH 

Slow-growing hardy shrubs— The Swanley Horticultural College — 
Gardening as an employment for women — Aucubas berries — 
Planting Asparagus — Brussels Sprouts — Sowing annuals — A list 
of flowering creepers — ' The Poet in the City ' — Old illustrated 
gardening books. 

March 2nd. — Of all the low-gi'owing quite hardy shrubs, 
especially in small gardens, nothing is more useful for 
picking and arranging with all kinds of flowers than the 
common Box. The kinds vary a little, some being larger- 
leaved than others, and the growth of some plants a little 
more graceful and branching. The most desirable kinds 
can quite easily be propagated by cuttings stuck into the 
ground in a shady place in spring. Its depressing 
characteristic for beginners is that Box is very slow- 
growing. Next to this in utility comes the common 
Barberry, or Berberis vulgaris, as we ought to call it, 
which is so well known to everybody now, as it is sold in 
the streets of London all through the winter months with 
its leaves dyed a dull-red colour. How this is managed 
I do not know ; I think it spoils the beautiful foliage by 
making it aU of one tone. With us it turns brown in 
severe winters, with an occasional red leaf, but in damp 
soils it gets much redder. Berberis is one of those things 
much sown about by the birds, for they eat its pretty 
purple berries in quantities. The young seedlings which 
come up with us in the beds and shrubberies are easily 
moved when quite young, and can be put where they are 



MARCH 39 

wanted to grow. The best time to move them is wet 
weather in July or August. They are plants with a 
perfect growth and exceedingly well adapted to waste 
places in gardens and the fronts of shrubberies. Spring 
bulbs will grow through them, and their yellow flowers 
and dark leaves arrange admirably with the common 
Daffodil in glass vases. They can also take the place of 
the picked Arum leaves, which always droop before the 
flowers when put into water. Out of the little stove, all 
the winter through, I have long branches of the Asparagtis 
pkcmosa. When cut, it is much more effective if trained 
up a light branching stick or feathery bamboo. This 
gives it support, and it is astonishing how long it lasts in 
water. It is extremely decorative, and will produce a 
most excellent effect if arranged in the above manner with 
only one bright flower added at its base. 

March 8tJi.^To-dsbj there has come up from the 
country one of the spring gems of the year, a large bunch 
of the lilac Daphne, the old Mezereum. It is a small 
shrub, not a quick grower, and most people, especially 
gardeners, are afraid to cut it. But if this is done bravely 
at the time of flowering, I think it only grows stronger 
and flowers better the following year, and you get the 
benefit of the exceedingly fragrant blossoms. For a few 
hours the whole of a London house smells sweeter for its 
presence. Its perfume is peculiar and not quite like 
anything else I know. The common lilac sort alone 
seems easy to grow — at least, the white one I Lave tried 
has died ; but then one must always say in gardening, 
' That is probably my fault ; I must try again.' No 
garden, however small, ought to be without this plant. 
It likes peat and moisture, but is not particular. 

Yesterday I paid a visit to the Horticultural College 
at Swanley, with its branch for women students. It 
immediately struck me as quite possible that a new 



40 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

employment may be developed for women of small means 
out of the modern increased taste for gardening. In 
many of the suburban districts the dulness of the small 
plots of ground in front of the houses is entirely owing to 
the want of education in the neighbouring nurserymen, 
whose first idea is always to plant Laurels or other coarse 
shrubs. The owners of such villas have Uttle time to 
attend to the garden themselves. A lady gardener might 
easily undertake to lay out these plots in endless variety, 
supplying them throughout the year with flowers and 
plants suited to the aspect of each garden. The smaller 
the space, the more necessary the knowledge of what is 
likely to succeed. Another opening may be found in 
cases of larger villas, where single ladies might prefer a 
woman head-gardener with a man under her to do the 
rougher and heavier work. The maintaining of a garden 
and the tending of a greenhouse is work particularly 
suited to women of a certain age. A small greenhouse 
never can be productive of flowers for picking through 
the dull months without a great deal of thought, care, 
and knowledge. It seemed to me that the lady pupils 
at Swanley were too young to profit by the instruction. 
The parents who sent them there evidently looked upon 
it as an ordinary school. Surely eighteen or twenty is a 
better age than sixteen for a woman to know whether 
she really wishes to learn gardening professionally or not. 
The employment of women as gardeners is still very 
much in embryo, although two of the Swanley pupils 
have been accepted at Kew. 

March IQth. — The Aucubas fruit well with us, and a 
branch of their bright shining green leaves and coral 
berries looks exceedingly well in a Japanese wedge and 
lasts a long time. We plant the male and female plants 
close together, but I am not sure that that is necessary. 

March llth. — Asparagus should be planted now, and. 



MARCH 41 

to save time, it is best to get two-year-old plants from 
Prance. I recommend Godfroy le Boeuf, Horticulteur, 
Argenteuil, prfes Paris. Dig the ground three spits deep 
— that is, the depth of three spades — and put in every- 
thing you can that is good : well-rotted farm-manure, 
the emptying of cesspools, butchers' offal, dead animals, 
anything to enrich the soil for a long time. Cover up, 
cut out one spit deep in trenches, and plant the Asparagus 
a good way apart in single crowns. They do best planted 
in single rows with other crops in between. The goodness 
of Asparagus depends on the summer top-growth, so, if the 
weather is dry, they must be watered or liquid-manured, 
and should never be cut down till late in the autumn. 

It is a great mistake, when marking the nurseryman's 
seed list, to order the vegetable described as * giant,' 
' large,' ' perfection,' etc. Unless your soil is very strong 
such vegetables do not grow large, and they do grow 
tough and tasteless. This * giant ' cultivation has been 
brought about to win prizes at shows. Amongst the 
deHcious vegetables that have been ruined by growing 
them too large are Brussels Sprouts. I consider those 
sold in the London shops are not worth eating, they are 
so coarse ; but one can get the seeds of old-fashioned 
small kinds. These are far sweeter, nicer, and prettier, 
either for putting into soup, for boiling and frying after- 
wards in butter, or for boiling quite plainly in the ordinary 
English way, They are also far more delicate for a 
pur^e, which is an excellent way of dressing them. If 
fried and put on buttered toast, they make a very nice 
second-course vegetable in winter. 

Do other housekeepers ever wonder why we are con- 
demned invariably to eat Whitings with their tails in 
their mouths and always skinned ? One of the reasons is 
that small Haddocks are constantly sold by fishmongers 
for the rarer Whiting ; and if skinned, they are not so easy 



42 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

to recognise. Try Whitings sometimes as they are eaten 
in Paris — lay them flat, not curled nor skinned, and cook 
them in a deep dish with butter or parsley. Squeeze 
lemon into them, and serve with brown bread and butter. 
They can also be fried in the usual way, only not curled. 
I think your male kind will approve of the change. 

March 15th. — I find that this is the best time for 
sowing annuals that have to be sown in place. If sown 
later, they never do so well. Poppies, Love-in-the-Mist, 
Mignonette, Sweet Sultans, Bartonia aurea, etc. This 
latter is a very effective annual. It must be sown in a 
large clump and well thinned out, which is the secret of 
most annuals. Twice a year, about March 15th and 
September 15th, I sow together broadcast Love-in-the- 
Mist and Gypsophila gracilis. They seem to support 
each other, and fixing a day for the sowing prevents one 
from forgetting. 

In the old convent gardens Calvary Clover was sup- 
posed not to grow unless sown on Good Friday. It is 
a curious little annual, with a blood-red spot on each leaf, 
and the seed-pod is surrounded by a case which pulls 
out, or rather unwinds, into a miniature crown of thorns. 
A friend has asked me what she should plant on the 
front of a lovely old house facing south. It now has on 
it at one end Ivy and on the other an old Wistaria. My 
first advice is take away the Ivy ; the place is too good for 
it, and it hides the beautiful old brickwork. An old 
Wistaria is quite lovely if part or all of it is dragged away 
from the house and trained over wooden posts, either in 
front of a window or a door, so as to form a kind of 
pergola. Until this is done, or it is grown as they do 
it in Japan — namely, as a standard, with its branches 
spread and supported all around, and you stand beneath 
it — you have no idea of the joy that is to be got out of a 
Wistaria, with its beautiful lilac blooms hanging from the 



MARCH 43 

bare and twisted branches above your head and the blue 
sky behind them. The whole effect is indeed different 
and very superior to that of seeing the blooms hanging 
straight and flat from branches nailed close to the wall. 
Unless it is protected from the north and east, it is of 
course more liable, in unfavourable springs, to have its 
blooms injured by late frosts. The plant itself, I believe, 
is absolutely hardy. 

The creepers I recommended to plant on a south 
front are as follows : — 

Magnolia grancliflora — the roots must be pulled 
about, not cut, and manured in the autumn for the first 
few years after planting, to make it grow quickly ; a 
Yellow Banksia, single if possible, but they are not easy 
to get ; an early yellow Dutch Honeysuckle ; a Pyrus 
japonica ; Chimonanthus fragrans, now called Calyc- 
antJms precox; a Beve cVOr Eose; a La Marque Eose 
(no house is perfect without one) ; a few Clematises, which 
in non-chalky soils must have chalk and lime or brick- 
rubbish put to their roots, not manure ; Choisya ternata, 
a low-growing shrub, wherever there is room between the 
other plants ; a Marechal Niel Eose. Forsythia suspensa, 
Jasminum nudiflorum. Clematis montana, and late Dutch 
Honeysuckle will all do on the east and west sides of a 
house as well as on the south. Two other things that 
would grow on the south wall are Bignonia radicans and 
Garrya elliptica, a charming evergreen with fascinating 
catkins, which form in January. The male or pollen- 
bearing plant is the handsomest. 

This list I actually made in the autumn, which is 
really the best time for planting ; but there is often so 
much to do then that planting is apt to get postponed, and 
rather than lose a whole year, spring planting is quite 
worth trying. In damp soils I really believe it answers 
best. In dry soils, or where a plant is likely to be robbed 



44 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

by the roots of neighbouring shrubs, or by old-established 
climbers, it is not a bad plan to sink in the ground an old 
tub or half-cask, or even an old tin footbath with the 
bottom knocked out. Then fill it with the best soil, and 
put in your plant ; it will benefit more in this way from 
watering in dry weather. There is nothing so disappoint- 
ing as to lose a plant in spring, as that means the loss of 
a whole year. 

Having given the above list, which is pretty w^ell as 
large as any moderate-sized house would hold, I may as 
well add some further names to choose from, all of which 
are worth growing. Magnolia purpurea, M. stellata, and 
M. conspicua may all be grown against walls, or planted 
in sheltered situations as shrubs. Yellow Jasmine (not 
nudiflorum) in favourable situations does well. Cratcegns 
pyracantha Icelandi is the best of the Pyracanthuses — I 
believe, an invaluable shrub. If well pruned, it berries so 
brilliantly that where people only inhabit their houses in 
late autumn it is perhaps one of the most satisfactory 
plants that can be planted. I know one large red house 
which is covered all round up to a certain height with this 
plant, and the efi"ect is very decorative, though to have a 
house entirely covered with only one species of plant is 
very dull from a gardener's point of view. Unless care- 
fully cut back and pruned early in the winter, it never 
flowers and berries well, but forms a dense mass of dark- 
green leaves. 

Cotoneasters, various, are useful much in the same 
way, and, I think, endure better very dry situations. 
Forsythia fortunei and other varieties. Pyrus japonica, 
now called Cydonia, various shades (this is one of the 
most precious and invaluable of the early flowering shrubs, 
and deserves the best places to be found on warm walls). 
Geanothus grandiflorus (Gloire de Versailles) is the 
largest flowering variety, I beUeve, and a pretty pale-blue 



MARCH 45 

colour, flowering in July, which is always valuable. C. 
cceruleus is a beautiful dark-blue colour; it flowers 
earlier, and is not so hardy. Cercis, or common Judas 
Tree, and Buddleia globosa both look well on walls where 
there is room. Vitis coignetice is a very handsome rapid 
grower, and covers quickly a barn, a roof, or a dead tree. 
The claret-coloured Vine, with its little bunches of black 
grapes, is very effective. The grapes are used in France 
and Germany for darkening the colour of wine. Abelia 
rupestris, a lovely little, rather tender shrub, would grow 
admirably against low greenhouse walls. Why are such 
spots generally left quite empty by gardeners in large 
places? The single white McCartney Eose would do 
well in a similar situation, and for those who are in the 
country in June it is well worth a place. Aimee Vibert, 
Gloire des Bosemaines, and Fallenberg are delightful Eoses 
for house or pergola. Sweet Verbena {A loysia citriodora) — 
Why, oh ! why, is this httle shrub, which everyone is so 
fond of, grown so little out of doors ? Practically, with a 
little care, its roots are quite hardy, as in the very severe 
winter of two years ago only one of mine, out of five or 
six plants, was killed. It requires nothing but planting 
out late in May, watering, and not picking at first, as the 
growth of the shoots makes the roots grow. It may be 
picked in early autumn as much as you like, but the 
summer growth should not be cut down to the ground 
till the following spring. It is the easiest plant possible 
to strike in spring, and there should be plants of it 
planted in greenhouses, others grown in pots, and brought 
on in stoves in spring ; but nearly aU gardeners are satisfied 
with one little plant of it in a pot, unless they are urged 
to increase it. Mock Orange {PhiladelpMcs grandiflorus) 
looks very well against a warm wall in July, but should 
not be nailed in too tight. Piptanthus nepalensis on a 
warm wall is admirable, but rare ; I have only seen it once. 



46 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Schizophragma hydrangeoides is a good wall-plant. For 
those who can get it to do on a half-shaded wall, is there 
any greater joy to the south country gardener than the 
TropcBolum speciosum ? There is an illustration of it in 
the 'English Flower Garden' (Flame Nasturtium), where 
it is depicted growing up strings. I think, however, it 
looks better if grown over some light creeper. Jasmine 
especially. It wants peat and moisture, and, above all, it 
must be in a place the spade or fork never reaches, as its 
thin little creeping white roots are easily disturbed, and 
even mistaken for a weed and thrown away. 

March l^id. — Such a lovely spring day, in spite of its 
cold wind ; it makes me long to be sixteen miles away in 
my little garden. Even here in London great pure white 
stately clouds are sailing over the blue. How lucky I am 
to be going away so soon ! I wish it gave half as much 
pleasure to the rest of the family as it does to me ; but 
one of the few advantages of old age is that we may be 
innocently selfish. A day like this makes me think of a 
little poem that appeared in the Spectator twenty years 
ago. It was written by a young clergyman's wife, who 
worked hard amidst the sordid blackness of a manufactur- 
ing town on the banks of the Tyne. My young friends 
will say, ' How morbid are Aunt T.'s quotations ! ' It is 
perhaps true ; but all bright, lovable, sympathetic souls 
had a touch of morbidness in the days that are gone, and 
these ' Notes ' have no meaning at all unless I try to give 
out in them the impressions received during forty years. 

THE POET IN THE CITY 

The poet stood in the sombre town, 

And spoke to his heart and said : 
' weary prison, devised by man ! 

O seasonless place and dead ! ' 
His heart was sad, for afar he heard 

The sound of the spring's light tread. 



MARCH 47 

He thought he saw in the pearly East 

The pale March sun arise ; 
The happy housewife beneath the thatch, 

With hand above her eyes, 
Look out to the cawing rooks, that built 

So near to the quiet skies. 

Out of the smoke and noise and sin 

The heart of the poet cried : 
' God ! but to be Thy labourer there, 

On the gentle hill's green side — 
To leave the struggle of want and wealth, 

And the battle of lust and pride ! ' 

He bent his ear, and he heard afar 

The growing of tender things. 
And his heart broke forth with the travailing earth 

And shook with tremulous wings 
Of sweet brown birds that had never known 

The dirge of the city's sins. 

And later, when all the earth was green 

As the garden of the Lord — 
Primroses opening their innocent faces, 

Cowslips scattered abroad, 
Blue-bells mimicking summer skies. 

And the song of the thrush out-poured — 

The changeless days were so sad to him 

That the poet's heart beat strong, 
And he struggled as some poor cag^d lark, 

And he cried, ' How long — how long ? 
I have missed a spring I can never see. 

And the singing of birds is gone.' 

But when the time of the roses came 

And the nightingale hushed her lay, 
The poet, still in the dusty town. 

Went quietly on his way — 
A poorer poet by just one spring. 

And a richer man by one suffering. 

I must begin to tell you about my old garden books, 
and how I first came to know about them, and then to 



48 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

collect them. Until lately I was absolutely ignorant of 
their existence, and had never seen an illustrated flower 
book of the last century. About fifteen years ago I was 
Uving in London, with apparently small prospect of ever 
living in the country again, or of ever possessing a 
garden of my ovwi. When ' A Year in a Lancashire 
Garden,' by Henry A. Bright, was pubHshed in 1879, the 
book charmed me, and I thought it simple, unaffected, 
and original. I had not then seen Dr. Forbes Watson's 
delightful little book, ' Flowers and Gardens,' alluded to 
by Henry Bright. ' A Year in a Lancashire Garden ' has 
been much imitated, but, to my mind, none of the 
imitations possess the charm of the original. It is a 
fascinating chat about a garden to read in a town and 
dream over as I did. It revived in me, almost to 
longing, the old wish to have a garden, and I resolved, 
if it were ever reaHsed, that every plant named by 
Henry Bright I would get and try to grow. This I 
literally carried out when I came to live in Surrey. His 
joys have been my joys, and his failures have some- 
times been mine too. In the * Lancashire Garden ' I 
was delighted to find a sentence which exactly expresses 
an opinion I had long held, but never met with in words 
before. As I agree with it even more strongly now than 
I did then, it is well I should quote it here, for the evil it 
denounces exists still, not only in England, but even 
more in several countries I have visited abroad : ' For 
the ordinary bedding-out of ordinary gardens I have a 
real contempt. It is at once gaudy and monotonous. 
A garden is left bare for eight months in the year, that 
for the four hottest months there shall be a blaze of the 
hottest colours. The same combination of the same 
flowers appear wherever you go — Calceolarias, Verbenas, 
and Zonal Pelargoniums, with a border of Pyrethrums 
or Cerastiums ; and that is about all. There is no 



MARCH 49 

thought and no imagination.' Yet twenty years ago this 
sort of garden was like Tory polities, or Church and 
State, and seemed to represent all that was considered 
respectable and desirable. I shall never forget the 
bombshell I seemed to fling into a family circle when I 
injudiciously and vehemently said that I hated parks and 
bedded-out gardens. 

In Mr. Bright's book I first saw the mention of 
Curtis's 'Botanical Magazine,' and afterwards came 
across a few stray illustrations out of it. Many of these 
old gardening books were, I fear, cut up and sold for 
screens and scrap-books when there was no sale for 
the complete works. I was much struck with the 
beauty and delicacy of these hand-coloured flower plates, 
and so began my first interest in old flower books, 
which has led by degrees to my present collection. At 
one time I thought of giving some account of the 
Herbals and botanical works at the library of the 
South Kensington Natural History Museum, where 
there is a very fine collection, which begins with the 
early Herbals and includes botany and gardening 
books. This, however, proved to be too ambitious 
a work; but a short account of my own books may 
be of some interest, for these, though far from being 
a large collection, extend over nearly three hundred 
years. The knowledge of the very existence of these 
beautifully illustrated Herbals and old gardening books 
is even now Hmited, though they are within reach of 
everybody at the Natural History Museum. Probably 
the reason why these books so suddenly fell out of all 
knowledge is owing to the letterpress, which is often in 
Latin, having, for one reason or another, become obsolete. 
No one now consults Herbals medically, or goes to 
old books for botanical instruction. 



50 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

I will arrange the account of my books in chronological 
order, according to the date of their publication : — 

1614. 'Hortus Floridus, by Eembertus Dodonaeus 
and Carolus Clusius.' This is the earhest gardening 
book I possess. It was printed in Amsterdam, and is a 
real representation of cultivated garden flowers, not a 
Herbal in any sense. It has a frontispiece with the 
portraits of the two authors, which was common enough 
in the old Dutch books of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries. Jupiter and Diana are represented on either 
side of the page, with wreaths of flowers hung along the 
top, and plants growing in pots placed at the bottom. 
The title of the book is in the centre. The plates 
are not coloured, but the flowers are very well dravpn. 
There are two charming pictures of Dutch gardens sur- 
rounded by an arched wall with creepers, straight paths, 
and beds edged with box. In one a woman is gathering 
Tulips, dressed in the quaint fashion of the period, and a 
man is leaning over a wooden or stone railing looking at 
her. The number and variety of exotic flowers figured 
in the book is surprising. Besides all the ordinary 
spring bulbs which are now grown, there are Sun- 
flowers, called Indian Golden Suns (Helianthuses, of 
course, all came from America), Cannas, Marvels of Peru 
(called Merveille d'Inde d diver ses couleurs), Nicotiana, 
etc. Insects are introduced on several of the plates, and 
in one or two instances mice are feeding on the bulbs 
which lie on the ground. The African Agapanthus is 
called Narcissus marinus exoticus. Both the Helle- 
bores are here, and all the flowers are so well drawn as 
to be perfectly recognisable. The book is an oblong 
shape, bound in unstiffened white parchment. It is well 
preserved, though some Philistine lady of the last century 
has, with patient industry, pricked some of the flowers 
and insects all round for the purpose of taking the out- 



MARCH 51 

lines for needlework. The book historically is certainly 
interesting. The text is in Latin, but even the unlearned 
reader is able to realise how horticulturally perfect may 
have been the gardens of Europe where Louis XIII. of 
France played as a child, and the number and richness 
of the flowers which our Prince Charles of Wales (his 
future brother-in-law) may have gazed at from his palace 
windows or enjoyed when gathered. This, perhaps, 
helped to nourish the great taste for art which Charles I., 
more than all our other kings, developed later in hfe. 

1629. I have both the Parkinsons. The first pub- 
lished of the two has the following curious descriptive 
inscription written on a shield at the bottom of the title- 
page :— 

Paradisi in Sole 
Paeadisus Teerestris. 

A Gaeden of all sorts of pleasant flowers which our 
English ayee will permitt to be nouesed up : 

WITH 

A Kitchen garden of all manner of heebes, ravies, and feuites 

FOR MEATE OE SAtJSE USED WITH US, 
AND 

An Orchaed of all sorts of fruit-bearing trees 

AND SHRUBBS FIT FOR OUE LaND, 

together 

With the eight oedeeinge, planting, and peesaeving 

of them, and their uses and vertues. 

Collected by John Parkinson, 

Apothecary of London. 



The picture on the title-page portrays the Garden 
of Eden with Adam and Eve tending the flowers. 
The outward edge is rimmed with spikes representing 
the sun's rays. At the top is the eye of Providence, and 

E 2 



52 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

on each side a cherub symbolising the winds. In the 
centre of the garden is the famous Vegetable Lamb, 
supposed to be half animal and half plant. This curious 
myth of the Middle Ages lingered on, and was actually 
discussed as a matter of faith by scientific men towards 
the end of the eighteenth century. The Borametz, or 
Scythian Lamb, or Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, as 
described by travellers, appears in both the frontispieces 
of Parkinson's books. When studying the flower books 
at the South Kensington Museum, I felt curious 
about this tradition, which the Church of the Middle 
Ages took up, making it a matter of faith that the 
Vegetable Lamb gi-ew in Paradise and was in some 
mysterious way typical of the Christian Lamb. My brain 
was soon cleared by finding at the Museum a book 
written by Mr. Henry Lee, and published as late as 1887, 
giving an excellent account of the whole tradition. This 
book, called ' The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary,' contains 
several pictures, reproduced from old books, of the lamb. 
Some represent it growing, as Parkinson has it, on a stem, 
from which it was supposed to eat the grass as far as it 
could reach and then die. Another picture is of a tree 
with large cocoons, which burst open and display a lamb. 
The belief seems to have been that the lamb was at the 
same time both a true animal and a living plant. Mr. Lee 
carefully goes through the! whole tradition, quoting all 
the known sources from which it arose. According to 
him, about the middle of the seventeenth century very 
little belief in the story of the Scythian Lamb remained 
among men of letters, although it continued to be a subject 
of discussion and research for at least a hundred and 
fifty years later. He sums up his explanation with the 
following sentence : — ' Tracing the growth and transition 
of this story of the lamb-plant from a truthful rumour of 
a curious fact into a detailed history of an absurd fiction, 



MARCH 53 

I have no doubt whatever that it originated in early- 
descriptions of the cotton plant, and the introduction of 
cotton from India into Western Asia and the adjoining 
parts of Eastern Europe.' All this seems so simple as 
explained by Mr. Lee, how^ the early travellers came back 
and said, ' In the far East there is a tree on which grows 
the most beautiful fine wool, and the natives weave their 
garments of it.' The Western mind could conceive of no 
wool except that of a lamb ; in this way the fiction grew, 
and was passed on from one writer to another. In a 
poem by Erasmus Darwin, published in 1781, of which 
more hereafter, it is alluded to as a plant that grew on 
the steppes of the Volga in the following terms : — 

E'en round the Pole the flames of love aspire, 
And icy bosoms feel the sacred fire. 
Cradled in snow and fanned by Arctic air, 
Shines, gentle Borametz, thy golden hair ; 
Kooted in earth, each cloven foot descends. 
And round and round her flexile neck she bends, 
Crops the grey coral moss and hoary thyme 
Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime ; 
Eyes mth mute tenderness her distant dam, 
And seems to bleat — a ' vegetable lamb.' 

Curiously enough, when in Norway last year, I came 
across an old wooden chair, and the back was carved in 
a way that seems to me conclusively to represent this 
old tradition. The design is a lamb enclosed in a circular 
cocoon, surrounded by branches and leaves. This chair 
I have now. 

In the ' Nineteenth Century ' of January ] 880, there 
appeared a very interesting article on Parkinson's 
' Paradisi in Sole,' called ' Old-fashioned Gardening,' by 
Mrs. Kegan Paul. She describes the title-page, and says, 
' The tree of knowledge, its fruit stiU unplucked by Adam, 
appears in the centre of the plate.' I thought we were 



54 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

told that Adam never did pick it, but received it from the 
hand of Eve ? But this is a trifling criticism on a useful 
and original article. Mrs. Paul makes a great many 
delightful quotations from Parkinson, and says that he is 
' not content to deny that single flowers can be trans- 
formed into double " by the observation of the change of 
the Moone, the constellations or conjunctions of Planets 
or some other Starres or celestial bodies." Parkinson 
holds that such transformation could not be effected by 
the art of man.' In her condemnation of bedding-out 
and in her admiration of the old-fashioned English 
garden, read by the light of these sixteen years, Mrs. 
Paul's article is almost prophetic. The ' Paradisi in Sole ' 
is essentially a book describing a garden of ' pleasant 
flowers ' and with many interesting details about their 
cultivation. There is no allusion to medical matter at 
all, though, as usual, the botanist was a doctor. The 
woodcuts are rather coarser and rougher than in the 
Dutch book before described, but they are fairly drawn 
and generally like N ature. In a little book by Mrs. Ewing, 
called ' Mary's Meadow,' the author speaks a good deal 
of this book of Parkinson's, and in a footnote she alludes 
to the fact that the title is an absurd play upon words, 
after the fashion of Parkinson's day. Paradise is 
originally an Eastern word, meaning a park or pleasure 
ground. Paradisi in sole Paradisus terrestris means 
Park-in-son's Earthly Paradise ! 

1640. We now come to Parkinson's second book, 
' The Theatre of Plants, or an Universal and Complete 
Herbal. Composed by John Parkinson, Apothecary of 
London and the King's Herbarist ' — ■{' the King ' being 
Chaiies I., at the time just preceding his execution). 
The frontispiece is quite as curious in its way as the 
one in the 'Paradisi in Sole.' It has a portrait of old 
Parkinson in a skull-cap, looking very wise and holding 



MARCH 



55 



a flower that looks like a Gaillardia. In the middle of 

the page is the title, with xidam on one side, dressed in 

the skin of a beast and holding a very fine spade, like the 

spades used in France to this day. This, I imagine, 

represents Toil, while Wisdom is personified on the other 

side by Solomon. He is clad in the conventional dress 

of the kings of the Middle Ages — a long cloak, a cape of 

ermine, a spiked crown, a sceptre, bare legs, and a pair of 

Eoman sandals. x\t the top of the page is the eye of 

God with a Hebrew word written below it. At the four 

corners are four female figures representing Europe, 

Asia, Africa, and America. Europe, only, is in a chariot 

drawn by a pair of horses. Asia, riding a rhinoceros, 

wears a very short skirt and curious, pointed, curled shoes, 

not unlike the slippers still worn in Turkey, and a stiff 

headdress that resembles those used by women in the 

thirteenth century. Africa has no clothes, only a hat, 

and rides a zebra. America has a bow and arrow, and 

rides, also without clothes, a curious long-eared sheep. 

These ladies are surrounded by the vegetation supposed 

to be typical of each country. Among other plants, Asia 

has again the Vegetable Lamb before described, and 

Asia, not America, has the Indian Corn (Maize), which, 

I believe, is supposed to be as exclusively indigenous to 

America as Tobacco is. It appears to have been entirely 

unknown to the Old World, and has never been found with 

other corn in any of the old tombs, or aUuded to in the 

classics. Its cultivation must have spread very quickly, 

and it is known all over the South of Europe as Ble 

de Turquie to this day. Turquie was the term used 

in the Middle Ages for describing anything foreign. 

When the early discoverers of Canada went up the 

St. Lawrence and reached the rapids, which still bear 

the name of La Chine rapids, they thought they had 

reached the China seas and joined the continent of Asia, 



56 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

It is, therefore, curious to note that Parkinson figures an 
American plant amongst the vegetation of Asia. The 
old Eed Indian natives of North America used to sow the 
Maize with a fish on either side of the seed to propitiate 
their gods. No wonder it grew luxuriantly. Africa has 
in the foreground what appears to be a Stapelia, Aloes, 
and Date-palms. America has Cactuses, Pineapples, and 
the large Sunflower, being the vegetation rather of South 
than North America. As representing the geographical 
knowledge and art notions of the day, it is decidedly an 
interesting title-page. The woodcuts throughout the 
book are of the whole plant, root and all ; but they are 
without much character, all about the same size, and less 
weU-drawn than the flowers in the ' Paradisi.' The 
medical properties of the plants are described at length 
and with much detail, and are really curious. I wonder 
if our complicated prescriptions and remedies will some 
day sink to the level which the science of herbs has 
reached to-day. It would not be so very surprising if this 
should happen, considering how much the faith put in 
the modern drugs resembles the belief in cures as 
described in these old Herbals. At the Museum there is 
a great collection of Herbals of all nationalities, especially 
German. They are all much of the same kind, and 
illustrated in the same way as this one of Parkinson's, 
leading one to conjecture that the medical science 
throughout Europe at this time was about on a 
level. 

1633. 'The Herbal or General Historie of Plants 
gathered by John Gerarde, of London, Master in Chirur- 
gerie.' This edition of Gerarde's Herbal appeared between 
the publication of Parkinson's two books just described, 
but it is a reprint of an earlier edition, very much enlarged 
and amended by Thomas Johnson, citizen and apothecary. 
The frontispiece is stately and serious. The title is on a 



MARCH 57 

shield in the middle, with a column on each side dividing 
it from two draped figures, Theophrastus on the left and 
Dioscorides on the right. Above these two figures, but 
divided from them by a line, are Ceres and Pomona, both 
fully draped. Ceres has a sheaf of wheat in her arms, and 
behind her grows the Indian corn. A ploughed field is 
spread out in the distance on her left. In the middle, 
between these figures, are growing plants and flowers and 
an orchard. At the bottom of the page is a fine portrait 
of Gerarde, holding a flower I do not recognise. He is 
dressed in the correct costume and ruffle of Charles I. 
On each side of him the spaces are filled by two vases 
of different shape and design, in which are various 
flowers arranged in a stiff and formal manner, typical of 
flower arrangements in that time and long after, as we 
see depicted by art in this and other countries. Nowhere 
on the page does there appear any representation of the 
Vegetable Lamb, nor can I find any reference to it in the 
text. On the other hand, however, there is an elaborate 
allusion to what Mr. Lee describes in his book on the 
Vegetable Lamb, before mentioned, as the companion 
superstition of the Barnacle Geese. Gerarde gives a most 
interesting and detailed account — too long, alas ! for me to 
quote — of having seen the barnacles and watched their 
development into tree-geese. He corroborates his own 
observation by quoting the like experience of others. He 
also states in all gravity that ' the shells wherein is bred 
the barnacle are taken up in a small island adjoining to 
Lancashire, half a mile from the mainland, called the 
Pile of Foulders.' Mr. Lee says : — ' The growth and 
development of the story of " the Scythian Lamb " from 
the similarity of appearance of two really different objects 
may be best explained by comparing it with another 
natural-history myth which ran curiously parallel to it. 
I allude to the fable that Sir John Mandeville tells us he 



58 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

related to his Tartar acquaintances, viz., that of the 
" Barnacle Geese," which has never been surpassed as a 
specimen of ignorant credulity and persistent error. 

' From the twelfth to the end of the seventeenth cen- 
tury it was implicitly and almost universally believed that 
in the western islands of Scotland certain geese, of which 
the nesting-places were never found, instead of being 
hatched from eggs, like other birds, were bred from 
" shell-fish " which grew on trees. Upon the shores 
where these geese abounded, pieces of timber and old 
trunks of trees covered with barnacles were often seen, 
which had been stranded by the sea. From between the 
partly opened shells of the barnacles protruded their 
plumose cirrhi, which in some degree resemble the 
feathers of a bird. Hence arose the belief that they con- 
tained real birds. The fishermen persuaded themselves 
that these birds within the shells were the geese whose 
origin they had been previously unable to discover, and 
that they were thus bred, instead of being hatched, like 
other birds, from eggs.' Mr. Lee states that the old 
botanist Gerarde had, in 1597, the audacity to assert that 
he had witnessed the transformation of the shell-fish into 
geese. "What Gerarde states, as I read it, is that some- 
thing like a bird fell out of the shell into the sea, ' where 
it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowle bigger than 
a mallard and lesser than a goose.' He distinctly says 
that if it fell on the ground it died. 

The drawing of the plants throughout Gerarde 's book 
is more delicate and finished than in Parkinson's. 

1691. I have a little gardener's almanack of this date. 
My copy is the '8th edition, and has many useful 
additions.' This book is without illustrations except 
for a frontispiece of a young man and young woman 
admiring a garden through a doorway. The woman is 
attended by a page, who is holding a modern-looking sun- 



MARCH 59 

shade. This is curious, as umbrellas did not, I believe, 
come into general use till very much later. 

1693. Evelyn publishes his translation of ' The Com- 
pleat Gard'ner, written by the famous Monsieur de la 
Quintinye, Chief Director of all the Gardens of the 
French King.' They must have been wonderful gardens, 
those of Louis XIV. ; and one of the most beautiful hand- 
coloured flower books in the library of the museum at 
South Kensington was executed by order of the king for 
Madame de Montespan. This translation of Evelyn's 
has some interesting little illustrations of gardens, plans 
of beds, fruit-trees, pruning, &c. The frontispiece is a 
portrait of Evelyn in a hideous wig of the day. 

1710. I have an English Herbal by William Salmon, 
doctor to Queen Anne. It contains a most fulsome 
dedication to the queen. The type of man who even in 
that century was capable of publishing such an effusion 
would be very hkely, I think, to have caused the death of 
all Queen Anne's children, while quite convinced aU the 
time that they died solely by the will of Almighty God. 
What a curious person that Queen Anne must have been, 
who allowed the great category of persecuting laws against 
the Catholics in Ireland to be framed in her reign, and 
whom Horace Walpole called ' Goody Anne, the wet- 
nurse of the Church ' ! The book is purely medical, and is 
supposed to be principally written for the use of doctors, 
but it describes flowering garden plants as well as the 
wild ones. It has a large, coarsely executed frontispiece, 
mostly torn out in my copy. The drawings of the plants 
show no artistic improvement over Parkinson's, but are 
much in the same style. 

1739. ' New Improvements of Planting and Gardening, 
both Phylosophical and Practical, by Richard Bradley.' 
This is a small book with rather good copper-plates, and 
interesting as showing the researches and ideas of an 



6o POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

intelligent man just previous to the illuminating of botany 
throvigh the works of Linnaeus, who in 1739 was only 
thirty-two. He knew that earthworms were hermaphro- 
dites, but from a text of Scripture he was convinced that 
plants have their seeds in themselves, and that every 
plant contained in itself male and female powers. The 
common Aucuba, so long a puzzle to botanists, only 
received its green-leaved pollen-bearing mate from Japan 
towards the middle of this century. Before that it was 
only propagated by cuttings, and never bore any red 
berries. The gardening books of the last century are full 
of useful hints, as gardening was then practised and 
vrritten about by men of the highest education ; and very 
often this was done solely for botanical and what they 
called ' philosophical ' reasons. Sometimes the childish 
earnestness of their ignorance concerning facts now 
known to every schoolchild accentuates the extraordinary 
advance and increased popularising of knowledge since 
that day. 

1732. ' Hortus Elthamensis, a Johanne Jacobo Dil- 
lenio, M.D.' Two folio volumes published in London, 
and interesting as showing the general development of the 
improved power of illustrating. The plates are coloured 
by hand, and contain many figures of Cape Aloes, Gera- 
niums, and other African plants, either depicted with 
their roots or as growing out of the ground. The text is 
in Latin. 

1771. ' Uitgezochte Planten, by Christ. Jacob Trew, 
Georgius Dionysius Ehret, Job. Jacob Haid.' The 
characteristic of this large folio is that it begins with 
very fine separate portraits of the three authors. One 
seems to have been the botanist, one the artist, and one 
the engraver. It was brought out at Amsterdam by sub- 
scription, as was so common with handsome books in 
those days. The book begins with a long list of sub- 



MARCH 6 I 

scribers. The flower-plates are extremely fine, very 
strongly coloured, and as fresh and bright as the day 
they were painted, each page being covered with a sheet 
of dark-grey thick hand-made paper, such as Turner loved 
to sketch upon. One of the things figured is the Japanese 
plant, Bocconia cordata (' Plumed Poppy,' Eobinson calls 
it), which we have been in the habit of thinking a new 
plant in our gardens. Many of the plates are inter- 
esting and a few remarkable, and the botanical details 
of the flowers beautifully drawn, some natural size 
and some magnified. 

1771. 'The Flora Londinensis, by William Curtis.' 
The first number was brought out by subscription on the 
above date. I have the two volumes of the first edition. 
It is the handsomes the most artistic, and the best 
drawn of any English illustrated botanical books I have 
seen. I do not know who was the artist, but I imagine 
not Curtis himself. These plates have some of the 
qualities of Jacquin's drawings, of which more hereafter. 
How much they were in communication, a not uncommon 
custom of the time, I do not know. Curtis's first book 
was a translation of Linnaus's, with the title of ' An 
Introduction to the Knowledge of Insects.' 

In 1773 Curtis was appointed lecturer of the Chelsea 
Garden. The plates of ' The Flora Londinensis ' are lovely 
large folio, and most delicately drawn and tinted. The 
text is in English, and is descriptive of the wild flowers 
and plants growing round London. No doubt the book 
was suggested to Curtis by Vaillant's * Catalogue of Plants 
in the Environs of Paris.' It retains strongly the Herbal 
character, and the medical details of diseases are weird 
and extraordinary. The decision and particularity of 
the assurance that every disease to which flesh is heir 
will be relieved by the use of certain plants are quite 
surprising. The place where the innocent little wild 



62 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

plants are picked is always named, and it is pathetic 
to think of the growth of the city, and how the places 
mentioned are now densely covered with buildings and 
streets. The second edition, in jfive or six volumes, 
finished by Dr. Hooker, is far the more valuable and 
complete. Curtis began his ' Botanical Magazine, or 
Flower Garden Displayed ' in 1778. I have the first 
sixty-seven volumes of this lovely and best known of all 
the Old English gardening publications. It is purely 
horticultural. Every alternate page is an illustration, 
with the letterpress on the opposite side describing the 
nature of the plant, the country from which it comes, 
and its cultivation here. With the same truthful accuracy 
with which he tells the home of the wild plant, he names 
the nurseryman or amateur who has flowered the exotic. 
The best drawings by far are in the early numbers, and 
were executed by Sowerby. The two who succeeded 
him were Sydenham Edwards and Dr. Hooker. Spode, 
the man who perfected the process of mixing bone-dust 
into the paste used for china in the early part of this 
century, used these illustrations a good deal for his pretty 
china dinner and dessert services, with the names of the 
flowers or plants marked at the back of the dishes. 

1791. ' The Loves of the Plants, in two parts : The 
Botanic Garden and the Economy of Vegetation. A Poem 
by Erasmus Darwin,' seems to me one of the real 
curiosities of literature. It is unique, so far as I know, 
in its sincere desire to clothe the latest science in the 
garb of the Muse. The frontispiece, by Fuseli, is a 
drawing most characteristic of that artist and full of all 
his affectations. Flora, attired by the elements, is a 
striking example of the fashion and bad taste of the day, 
and yet it is full of ingenuity and skill in drawing. This 
frontispiece is well worth, by itself, the price I gave for 
the whole volume. Another print in the book, by the 



MARCH 63 

same artist, is called ' The Fertilisation of Egypt,' mean- 
ing, of course, the rising of the Nile. A huge unclothed 
man with a dog's head is praying to the star Sirius. 
A note explains this by saying ' the Abb6 La Pluche 
observes that as Sirius, or the Dog-star, rose at the time 
of the commencement of the flood, its rising was watched 
by the Astronomers and notice given of the approach of 
the inundation by hanging the figure of Anubis, which 
was that of a man with a dog's head, in all the Egyptian 
temples.' Erasmus Darwin's mind was evidently fasci- 
nated, as was common with all the scientific men of the 
day, by the fertilisation of plants. In one of his notes he 
says, ' The vegetable passion of love is agreeably seen in 
the flower of the Parnassia (Grass of Parnassus), in which 
the males alternately approach and recede from the female' 
(a practice not wholly unknown to many beside the 
innocent Parnassia), ' and in the flower of Nigella.' We 
call it now Love-in-the-Mist, ' in which the tall females 
bend down to their dwarf husbands ' (a picture some- 
times seen in modern drawing-rooms). Darwin goes on 
to say, ' I was surprised this morning to observe, amongst 
Sir Brooke Boothby's valuable collection of plants at 
Ashbourne, the manifest adultery of several females of 
the plant Gollinsonia, who had bent themselves into 
contact with the males of the same plant in their vicinity, 
neglectful of their own.' The plate and note of Gloriosa 
superha I have mentioned elsewhere. As an outcome of 
the extraordinary effect of Linnaeus's work on thinking 
minds at the end of the last century, the book is of great- 
interest, though we should not call it poetry in the modern 
sense. Erasmus Darwin was the grandfather of our 
great Darwin, who did for the middle of this century so 
much more than even Linnaeus did for the end of the last. 
1778. ' Miscellanea Austriaca, by Nicolai Josephi 
Jacquin.' This is the earliest Jacquin book that I have. 



64 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

It is in two small volumes of note-books, with all the 
illustrations at the end. The text is in Latin ; but this is 
of no consequence, as Jacquin's books are all botanical, 
not horticultural, and their botany is obsolete. This 
remarkable man, Nicholas Joseph Jacquin, whose in- 
dustry must have been untiring, was born at Leyden in 
1727, and educated there at the University for the medical 
profession. This meant in those days the highest 
botanical education which could be obtained. He went to 
Vienna, at the suggestion of a friend, to practise medicine, 
but when there his great botanical knowledge brought 
him to the notice of Francis I. This emperor seems to 
have been a great patron of botany and gardening, the 
fashionable combination of the day. He sent Jacquin to 
the "West Indies for six years to collect plants for the 
Schonbrunn Gardens, paying his expenses. Jacquin did 
not die till 1817, leaving an unfinished work, ' Eclogae 
Plantarum Eariorum,' the only one of Jacquin's books 
that has a German as well as a Latin text. The second 
volume was not published till 1844, by Bdouardus Fenzl, 
long after Jacquin's death. The colour and painting are 
very inferior to Jacquin's work. Towards the end of the 
last century, in the midst of wars and revolutions, the 
crumbling of old methods of government and the change 
of social customs, an extraordinary band of able men all 
over Europe were quietly working in concert and with 
constant communication. Their object was to increase 
the knowledge of the science of botany by reproducing, 
with the greatest botanical exactness of detail, the plants 
imported from all parts of the world as they flowered in 
Europe for the first time in the various greenhouses and 
stoves. It is remarkable that the books of this period, 
even of different countries, very rarely illustrate the same 
plants. The botanical curiosity, the feeling of something 
new, rare, and not fully understood, which is such an 



MARCH 65 

incentive to the human mind, has gone for ever as far 
as this kind of simple botany is concerned. Of these 
highly gifted men, v^ho worked on lines which can no 
more be repeated than the missals of the sixteenth 
century in Italy, Jacquin, no doubt, was the most artist- 
ically interesting. No one who has not seen his works 
can realise the beauty, the delicacy, the truth, the detail 
to which flower-painting can be brought. None of the 
other flower-painters that I know show anything like the 
same talent of throwing the flower on to the paper with 
endless variety, and of adapting the design to the size 
and growth of the particular plant. This result seems 
produced by his botanical exactness, and not, apparently, 
by any intention to make a beautiful picture. No two 
pages are ever filled in the same way. This does away 
entirely with the ordinary wearisome monotony of turning 
over drawings one after the other, with the flower right in 
the middle of the page. His books fetch a considerable 
price, and are difficult to procure. The one I sometimes 
see in English catalogues is in my possession, five volumes 
of ' Collectanea ad Botanicam Chemiam et Historiam 
naturalem, 1786.' My copy was a surplus one at the British 
Museum, of which it bears the stamp and date of sale, 
1831. The plates maintain their usual excellence and 
are nearly all coloured, with a brilliancy that has not 
suffered at all from time. Some are of wild flowers, 
mosses, Lycopodiums, insects, and serpents. All Jacquin's 
drawings stand out wonderfully on the paper, but there 
is no shading, except that the modelling is indicated by a 
stronger tone of the same colour ; and the relief and value, 
without any tinting of the background, are most effective. 
In the case of the bushy little Alpines the plant is spread 
out like seaweed and the root drawn, which gives the 
whole growth and proportion of the plant. 

1793. ' Oxalis Monographia ' is an exquisite study of 

F 



66 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

about a hundred Oxalises. Nearly all the plates are 
coloured. Most of these deUcate Httle plants with their 
bulbous roots come from the Cape of Good Hope. Jacquin 
seems to have had a pecuhar aifection for them, as, besides 
this monograph, he constantly figures them in his mis- 
cellaneous works. I have often tried to procure his book 
on Stapelias, also a large family of Cape plants rather 
like smaU Cactuses, but have never been able to do so, 
and have only seen it at the Museum. 

1797-1804. 'Plantarum Eariorum Horti Cgesarei 
Schoenbrunnensis.' These four superb fohos, containing 
five hundred spotless plates by Jacquin, represent some 
of his very finest work. The plates are all coloured, in a 
much stronger and more finished way than in his other 
books. Some of the plates are folded and larger than the 
book, and others extend across the whole width of the 
book. As an example of the richness of the plates I 
will describe one taken at random, which he calls Vitis 
vulpina. The shoot of the vine starts from a short piece 
of stronger branch at the very top of the page, and curves 
to the bottom, turning up at the end with young leaves 
and tendrils. This young shoot has two bunches of the 
flower as it appears in spring. Quite at the top, on the 
right, is a detached autumn leaf turning red, and drawn 
from the back with every vein showing. Half-way down, 
on the left, is a bunch of ripe purple grapes ; vnth one pip, 
drawn life-size, at the side. Below this is a single flower, 
highly magnified, with a drawing apart showing pistil and 
stamen. There are ten life-sized leaves on the branch, 
and the whole is contained on an unfolded plate. A short 
botanical description of each plant is added in Latin. 
The hand-made paper on which these plates are printed 
puts to shame all that we now produce. Many of the 
plants are named differently from what they are now. 
To those who have never seen Jacquin's works these 



MARCH 67 

volumes are an absolute revelation. At the same time 
his genius will always appeal more to the artistic than to 
the scientific mind, although in the biographical notices 
of him that I have seen he is only mentioned as a doctor 
and a botanist. At the Natural History Museum is a 
large and much-valued collection of his letters and original 
drawings. 

1794. ' Thirty-eight Plates with explanations, intended 
to illustrate Linnaeus' system of vegetables, and par- 
ticularly adapted to the letters on the elements of Botany. 
By Thomas Martin, Eegius Professor of Botany in the 
University of Cambridge.' These plates are beautifully 
drawn, and exempHfy very well the careful draughtsman- 
ship of a botanist of the day. They are most faithfully 
hand coloured, and are only inferior to the best from a 
little want of gradation. 

1794. I have the ' Life of Sir Charles Linnasus, by 
D. H. Stoever, translated from the original German by 
Joseph Trapp.' It is, I believe, the only biogi-aphy of him 
ever written. To this is added a copious list of his woi'ks 
and a biographical sketch of his son, whose life is an in- 
teresting example of talents shared by a father and son. 
The son, who died unmarried at the early age of forty-one, 
seems to have been a brilliant and much-loved individual. 
Trapp dedicates his translation to the Linnasan Society 
of London. It contains a portrait of the elder Linnaeus, 
a cheerful, bright, up-looking profile, with the curly wig 
of the day, and a large branch stuck in his buttonhole, as 
was not uncommon in the portraits of botanists. He was 
born in 1707, was the son of a Swedish minister, and the 
grandson of a peasant. His industry and energy must 
have been exceptional, and he chose truth as his guide. 
His first book was the * Flora of Lapland,' which was 
perhaps the reason why that little Northern flower, Linnca 
borealis, is the plant that has received his great name. 

p2 



68 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

He married at twenty-seven, and his father-in-law seems 
to have put small faith in his botany, and advised him 
to apply himself more exclusively to the theoretical and 
practical study of physic. After his marriage he made 
money as a doctor in Stockholm, and it is not otherwise 
than interesting to know that when attacked with very 
severe gout at forty-three, and the doctors who attended 
him began to despair of his recovery, he cured himself by 
eating nothing but Strawberries for a time. Afterwards 
he kept the gout entirely in check by taking a Strawberry 
cure every summer. In several ways the book gives an 
interesting picture of life in the last century. Linnaeus's 
books are characterised by rehgious sentiment, neverthe- 
less they had the misfortune of being considered at Eome 
as heretical and materialistic productions. In 1758 they 
were inserted in the catalogue of forbidden books ; no one 
durst either print or sell them under pain of having every 
copy confiscated or publicly burnt. This proceeding 
was imphcitly condemned during the papacy of the 
excellent and truly enlightened Ganganelli, Pope Clement 
XIV. Linnaeus himself mentions this occurrence in a letter 
to the Chevalier Thunberg in the following terms : — ' The 
Pope, who fifteen years ago ordered those of my works 
that should be imported into his dominions to be burnt, 
has dismissed the Professor of Botany who did not 
understand my system, and put another in his place, who 
is to give public lectures according to my method and 
theory.' 

1797. ' The Botanist's Eepository, by H. Andrews.' 
This is a rare book, I believe, and ought to be in ten 
quarto volumes. I have only the first eight. It contains 
coloured engravings only of new and rare plants, many of 
which cannot, I think, have flowered in England, as there 
are several Proteas, which are exceedingly difficult of 
cultivation under glass, Andrews' great fondness for 



MARCH 6g 

plants from the Cape of Good Hope makes one almost 
think he must have been there — Gladioli, Ixias, and 
cmious Cape Pelargoniums, which are the parents of all 
our greenhouse varieties. On the bottom of the title- 
page is a charming little drawing of that humble plant the 
Linnea borcalis (' Twin Flower,' Mr. Eobinson calls it), 
which I have never yet been lucky enough to flower. 
The design represents two little flowering branches raised 
on either side like two arms. I feel much drawn to the 
man Andrews, who so skilfully placed it there, just a 
hundred years ago, to do honour to his great master. 
Andrews' other book is ' The Heathery, or a Monograph 
of the Genus Erica.' Again I have only the small edition 
published in 1804. The folio one is very scarce. This is 
a pretty, interesting book, with moderately well-drawn 
plates, coloured by hand. The Heaths are such a large 
family, and nearly all apparently come from the Cape of 
Good Hope. I cannot understand why people who have 
several greenhouses should not grow more of these 
charming plants. They require a certain amount of 
special treatment, a very cool house and plenty of air. It 
seems such a pity that private gardeners only care to 
grow the few plants which they can exhibit for competi- 
tion — markedly, just now. Orchids and Chrysanthemums. 
These Cape Heaths look lovely picked and wedged, or 
growing in the greenhouse, and, I should imagine, would 
do especially well in houses by the sea. On the frontis- 
piece of his book Andrews has a quaint picture of a 
greenhouse for growing his Heaths. 

Towards the end of the year I will tell you about 
those of my books which belong to this century. 



70 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



APBIL 

Whims of the weather — Spring flowers — The herbaceous nursei-y — 
Love for the garden— A light sprayer- Homely French receipts 
— French gardening — The late frosts. 

April 2nd. — We came down to our little Surrey garden, 
only sixteen miles from London, for good yesterday ; and 
though the wind be ever so cold and the skies ever so grey, 
I yet feel that that which makes going to London worth 
while is the joy of coming back again. The ceaseless 
interest of a garden of this sort is in the variety, not only 
of the plants, but in the actual growth caused by the 
different seasons. This year the winter has been very 
mild, and dry too, which is unusual — and then came a 
very wet March, such as I do not remember since we have 
lived in Surrey, these fourteen years. It is really amusing 
to watch all that happens consequent on these whims of 
the weather ; the early and late, the wet and the dry, 
all making immense difference in the plants. Some are 
successful one year, and some another. 

Nothing is more charming justnow than theForsythias. 
They are absolutely hardy, but they flower best on walls, 
even a north one, as the birds are extremely fond of the 
buds and can get at them much better when the plant is 
grown as a bush. The birds always seem to be extra- 
ordinarily destructive in this garden ; but I see that most 
gardeners, in their books, make the sarne complaint, and 
rather apologise to the common-sense of their readers for 
cherishing and feeding instead of destroying them. In 



APRIL 



71 



my garden I hang up on the trees, the pump, or shaded 
railings, little boxes with part of one side cut out for the 
birds to build in, and with lids that lift up for me to have 
the pleasure of looking at them. The fact is, birds do 
quite as much good as narm, though the harm is the more 
apparent ; and who would have a garden without song ? 

The Crown Imperials are in full flower. They, like 
many other bulbs in this light soil, reproduce themselves 
so quickly that they want to be constantly lifted, the 
small bulbs taken away and put in a nursery (if you wish 
to increase your stock), and the large ones replaced, in a 
good bed of manure, where you want them to flower the 
following year. It is best, if possible, to do this in June, 
when the leaves have died down, but not quite disappeared 
so that the place is lost ; one can, however, always find 
them in the autumn by their strong smell when the earth 
is moved beside them. 

The orange Crown Imperials do best here, so, of 
course, I feel proudest of the pale yellow. Both colours 
are unusually good this year. In my youth they were 
rather sniffed at and called a cottage plant. I wonder if 
anyone who thought them vulgar ever took the trouble to 
pick off one of the down-hanging bells and turn it up to 
see the six drops of clear water in the six white cups 
with black rims? I know nothing prettier or more 
curious amongst flowers than this. I have not got the 
white one, but must try and get it ; I am told it is very 
pretty, and so it must be, I should think. The lovely 
little Omphalodes verna {' Blue-eyed Mary,' Mr. Eobinson 
calls it) is in flower under my trees. The soil is too dry 
for it to flourish very successfully, and yet it is always 
worth growing everywhere. Next year I shall try lifting- 
it in March and putting it into pots. The gi'eat thing 
is to remember that it divides and propagates much better 
in early spring than in autumn. The graceful, pale grey 



72 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

anemone Bohinsomana is doing better this year. Now 
that it has taken hold, I hope it may spread. 

All the early tulips and some of the later are out ; 
what delicious things they are ! None are better than 
Gesneriana greigi and sylvestris. The beautiful Parrot 
Tulips will come later. Ornithogalum nutans is a weed 
most people dread to get into their borders, and not un- 
naturally ; but if put in a place where spreading does no 
harm, or planted in grass, where it does not flourish very 
much, it is a bulb well worth growing. It blooms better 
if divided every two or three years. The flowers are very 
lovely when cut, and, like all their tribe, they last well in 
water, looking most refined and uncommon, and are es- 
pecially good to send to London. I do not make many 
remarks here on the lovely family of spring bulbs — Tulips, 
Scillas, Hyacinths, Daffodils, and Narcisses — for the same 
reason that I passed casually over the forced ones in 
February. We can all grow these easily enough by mark- 
ing the catalogue and paying the bill. Anybody who 
does not understand their cultivation will find every detail 
on the subject in the older gardening books, as I have 
stated before. Of all the Dutch nurserymen from whom I 
have bought bulbs, J.J. Thoolen at Overveen, near Haarlem, 
is the cheapest, though I do not say that he is better or 
worse than any other. In my experience, all the finer 
kinds of bulbs are better for taking up in June or July, 
well dried in the sun, and planted again in September. 
When they are planted in grass they must, of course, be 
left alone to take their chance. Nothing can be more 
delightful than the spring bulbs. I grow them in every 
way I can — in pots, in beds, in borders, and in the grass. 

Besides the Bulbs, the Arums, and the Azaleas, I have 
in the little greenhouse next the drawing-room several 
very pretty Prinuda sieboldii : they remain in the frames 
in pots during the summer, to die down entirely, and are 



APRIL 73 

re-potted in the autumn. They are hardy, and will grow 
out of doors, but the blooms do not then reach to such 
perfection. There is a large box filled with the last of 
the Neapolitan Violets and a pan of Saxifraga tvallacei, 
one of the most effective of the smaller Saxifrages. I 
never succeeded with it out of doors till I divided it in 
June, planting it in the shade, and in October I replaced 
it in the sunny bed for spring flowering. In that way 
it can be increased to any amount. This treatment I 
pursue with many plants : — Hcuchera sanguinea, one of 
the most precious of the Canadian flowers, and the 
best worth cultivating, especially in small gardens. The 
pretty Saxifraga granulata flore pleno disappeared year 
after year till treated more or less in this way. In June, 
when the leaves die down, the little bulblets are taken up 
and planted in groups in a shady place. They make 
their leaves in October, when it is easy to move them 
back into the border or onto the rockery where they are 
to flower. The double flower is of a very pure white, 
and its long stalk adapts it w^ell for glass vases and table 
decoration. The large sweet-smelling double white 
Eocket, which I mentioned before as growing so well in 
the damp Hertfordshire garden, defeated me altogether 
for some years ; it made a fair growth of leaves, but never 
flowered. Now it succeeds perfectly. After flowering, we 
break it up, put it into a shady place, and replant it in 
the borders in the autumn. All this sounds very trouble- 
some, but it is really not so at all, as it is so quickly done. 
The only trouble is remembering when to do the things ; 
but that soon comes with practice, and the time of year 
always recalls what was done the year before to the true 
gardener. Everybody recognises this treatment as 
necessary for violets, double and single — which, indeed, 
do not flower well without it. The invaluable Imanto- 
phyllums, which began to flower in the warm greenhouse 



74 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

in January, are doing so still : so are the Arums, 
which people insist on calling 'Lilies.' They are not 
lilies at all, but belong to the same family as the ' Lords 
and Ladies ' and ' Cuckoo Pint ' of our hedges. The 
large greenhouse Arums come from the Cape, where they 
are an absolute weed, appearing wherever the ground is 
disturbed or turned up. They are there called Pig LiHes, 
perhaps because they feed the pigs on the roots. In the 
damp places, I am told, they are magnificent, growing 
finer and larger than they ever do in pots in England ; 
at the same time, when they come up in dry and heathy 
places, the}^ are perfect miniature plants with delicate 
little flowers like shells. Arums in pots require lots of 
water while growing and flowering, and are better for a 
saucer to hold it. 

A beautiful crimson Amaryllis, which I brought back 
from Guernsey some years ago, is in flower. It has never 
flowered before ; but we understand so much better than 
we did the drying and ripening in the sun of all the Cape 
bulbs, and this makes the whole difference to their 
flowering. 

April Srd.—This is the time of year when we make up 
our nursery, which I consider one of the most important 
gardening acts of the whole year, and one most fruitful 
in results. We take up, from wherever they happen to 
have been left last autumn, herbaceous Phloxes, early 
outdoor Chrysanthemums, and Michaelmas Daisies. 
These are broken up into small pieces, according to the 
number of plants that are likely to be wanted in the 
borders or to give away, and planted in rows in a half- 
shady corner of the kitchen garden. Here they are left 
to grow and increase till some wet day in July, when 
they are planted in bold masses where they are to 
flower. They really move better in dry weather than in 
wet, and I say a wet day merely because it reduces the 



APRIL 75 

trouble of watering, which is all the attention they 
require. They fill up bare places and holes in the 
borders, and flower as they never did with us in the 
old days when they were left alone. This treatment 
especially suits the Phloxes, which is curious, as they 
are moved when just coming into flower. The rows in 
the spring must be labelled with the names and colours, 
as the diliferent hues of the flowers war with each other 
if promiscuously massed. The Michaelmas Daisies 
flower earlier in this way than when left to starve in a 
dry border or shrubbery, but one can always leave some 
in unfavourable places to flower late. 

April ^th. — All the Linums and Linarias {see Mr. 
Eobinson's book) are useful for house and table decora- 
tion, and are very suitable for small gardens. The 
common blue Flax is a lovely thing; so is the white 
French Willow-weed {Epilobium), which is most useful, 
and flowers earher in the year than the common lilac 
one. 

As a single plant, for beauty of growth and foliage 
there are few things as lovely as the common Hemp 
plant {Cannabis sativa). It is an annual, easily grown in 
April in a pot or box, and planted out. 

In gardening, as in most things, it is thought that is 
really required, and that wonderful thing which is called 
' a blind god ' — love. But blind love is mere passion. 
Eeal love in every form, even towards animals and 
plants, is watchful and ever seeing, never missing for a 
moment what is for the good and the advantage of the 
beloved. In walking round and round the garden, with 
a practised eye one soon sees when a plant is getting 
on well or the contrary. When a plant is doing badly, it 
means the conditions are unfavourable, and it is then 
our duty to find out why. In my garden the usual 
cause of failure is dryness, and many and many a plant 



76 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

has been saved, since I understood this, by a timely 
mulching or a good can of water. When things are 
coming into flower, especially early Alpines, Gentians, 
etc., it is quite safe to water, even in cold weather, early 
in the year. Do they not flourish where the ice-water 
drips upon them from the first melting of the snows 
under the spring sun ? Early spring plants do badly in 
our soil ; but were I there, to watch and to water just 
at the right time, I feel sure they would look more 
flourishing. 

A most beautiful light sprayer for watering small 
plants is easily made in the following way : — Take a 
piece of sheet zinc five or six inches long and four or 
five inches wide. Cut a piece half an inch wide on each 
side of the zinc to within an inch of the middle, so 
making a little band attached to the main piece, and fold 
this tightly round the spout of the watering-pot ; bend the 
zinc sprayer upwards in the middle in a way to enable 
the water from the pot to flow over it in a continuous 
sheet. 

Sorrel is a vegetable seldom grown in English 
gardens, and still seldomer properly dressed by English 
cooks, and yet it is excellent, either cut up in the white 
soup called 'Bonne femme,' dressed like Spinach, or 
pur^e'd as thin as a thick sauce. With veal, cooked in 
all ways, it is especially good. When the summer gets 
on and it is old, it is desirable to add a little Lettuce 
with it to soften it, as it gets too sour. It is one of those 
vegetables never quite so good in towns, as it is best 
freshly picked, and if faded should be revived in water 
before cooking. The receipts for cooking it in ' Dainty 
Dishes ' are quite right. 

For those who keep cows, or who can have plenty of 
good fresh cream, the following, I think, will be found a 
really excellent pudding : — 



APRIL 77 

Creme Brulde. — Boil one pint of cream for one 
minute, pour it on the yelks of four very fresh eggs well 
beaten, then put it again on the fire and let it just come 
to the boil. Pour it into the dish in which it is to be 
served, and let it get cold. Strew a thick crust of 
powdered sugar over it, put it in a slow oven for ten 
minutes, then brown it with a salamander, and serve it 
cold. 

April 5th. — We started to-day to spend a week in a 
French country house, sleeping one night on our way at 
beautiful Chartres, which, as I am not writing a guide- 
book, I shall not describe. The weather was bitterly cold ; 
and when we humbly asked at the hotel for some hot 
water, the answer we got was ' On n'echauffe plus.' 
The French submit more meekly than we do to this 
kind of regulation, which is curious, as they are so 
much more sensible, as a rule, than we are in most of 
the details of life. I was interested to see in the small 
court of the hotel a quantity of most flourishing Hepat- 
icas. These flowers, Mr. Bright tells us, defeated all 
his efforts in his Lancashire garden. I have tried them 
in various aspects, but they make a sorry show with 
me in Surrey. In this little back-yard they shone in the 
sunshine, pink and blue, double and single. I suppose 
the secret is that they do not mind cold, but they want 
sun. I wonder if anyone is very successful with them 
in England ? How I remember them, in the days of my 
youth, pushing through the dead leaves in the little oak 
woods in the valleys up the country behind Nice, then, as 
now, ' Le pays du Soleil,' but probably long since all 
changed into villas and gardens instead of woods and 
fields. 

A French country house ! How different it all is ! In 
some ways we manage best, in others they do. This 
was rather a cosmopolitan than a typically French house, 



78 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY (GARDEN 

and yet in a couutiy how traditions linger and customs 
cling ! We saw and did many interesting things, thanks 
to the cordial hospitality and kindness of our host and 
hostess. I, however, will only allude to certain domestic 
details which I learnt during my stay, and which may 
instruct you as they did me. What interested me much 
from a housekeeping point of view was, not only tho 
excellence of tho cooking, as that now can be seen else- 
where, but tho management of the kitchen. It seems a 
small thing to state as an example, but I was told that 
no French housekeeper who at all respects herself would 
over allow lard to come into her house. Everything is 
fried in what they call graisse, and we call suet. Five or 
six pounds are bought from the butcher — anywhere in 
England they will let you have it at sixpence a pound. 
This is boiled for two or three hours, skimmed and 
strained, and poured into jars ready for use, taking the place 
of lai'd when butter or oil are not used. Since I came 
home I have never had any lard in my house. Many 
people here do not know that dripping can bo cleared 
by frying some pieces of raw potato in it till they turn 
brown ; this will clarify it nicely. 

All chickens, game, birds of any kind, are roasted far 
more slowly than with us, and at wood fires. The livers, 
gizzards, &c., are chopped up and put inside the bird. It 
is always basted with butter, which is poured round the 
bird when'sent to table. This is a very great improve- 
ment with all birds, especially fowls, on the pale watery 
gravy or the thick tasteless sauce as served in England. 
Our method of sticking tho liver and gizzard into the 
wing is a useless waste, for they shrivel into a hardened 
mass before our fierce coal fires. The French, if they 
do not think the livers, etc., necessary for improving the 
gravy in tho roasting often make them the foundation of 
a pie or side-dish. This cutting up tho liver and hasting 



APRIL 79 

with butter is a hint well worth remembering, and should 
be universally applied in the roasting of all birds. I 
noticed that all roast meat was basted with fat or butter, 
and the gravy served just as it was, without straining or 
clarifying, with all the goodness of the meat in it. This 
we have practised ever since at home, with great 
approval. Many people would object to this as greasy. 
I only say, ' Try it.' 

A very good, easily made French soup is as follows : — 

Potagre Paysanne. — Cut one large onion into dice, 
put them into a stewpan with two ounces of butter, and fry 
a nice golden colour. Then take a half-inch-thick slice 
of bread toasted to the same colour ; break it into small 
pieces, and put them into the stewpan with a pint of good 
stock. Simmer gently for thirty-five minutes, then 
serve. Quantity for four persons. 

The following receipt for a tame duck I can tho- 
roughly recommend ; if you follow it exactly, it cannot go 
wrong : — 

Caneton a rOrang-e.— Take a good fat duck, clean 
it out, and put the liver apart. Singe the duck, and clean 
it very carefully. Then mince the liver with a Httle 
onion and some grated bacon or ham, add salt and 
pepper. Put the stuffing inside the duck. Now close 
the opening of the duck ; leave the skin of the neck long, 
and bring it round under the duck to close the tail. 
Spread on the table a clean pudding-cloth, and roll the 
duck in this rather tightly, to preserve the shape. Tie up 
the two ends of the cloth with string. Put into a stew- 
pan, with boiling salted water. Continue to boil it quietly 
for one hour for an ordinary duck, one hour and ten 
minutes if large ; it will then be cooked, and ought to be 
a good pink colour. (Chickens boiled in the same way are 
excellent.) Take three oranges, peel them with a spoon, 
cut the peel in quarters, taking out all the white ; shred the 



8o POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

peel as if for Julienne soup ; put it into water for 
seven or eight minutes, drain on a cloth. Take the 
rest of the orange, removing all the white ; put the pulp 
into a good reduced stock half glazed. Add Spanish 
sauce {see ' Dainty Dishes ' ), two or three spoonfuls, and 
a little red wine — port is best. Pass through a sieve, and 
then add the chips of orange-peel. Unpack the duck, 
serve on a dish, surround it with pieces of orange ; put 
a little sauce over the duck and the rest in a sauce- 
boat. 

Another good and useful receipt is the following : — 

French Pie. — Cut up 2 lbs. of lean veal, 2 lbs. of 
bacon, and 2 lbs. of lean pork, in very thin slices. Place 
them in layers in a fireproof pie-dish. Moisten with 
stock, and chop up a little herb and very little onion, and 
put it between the slices of meat. Cover with a sham 
crust of flour and water. Take all the cuttings, parings, 
bones, &c. ; cook these in water or weak stock, and 
reduce to a large teacupful. 

When the pie has baked some time slowly, take it out, 
take off the crust and pour in the teacupful of stock. 
When it has cooled, it improves the appearance of the 
dish to put some well-made aspic jelly {see ' Dainty 
Dishes ') on the top. 

As it was the end of Lent, I had the chance of seeing 
several maigre dishes. All the good cooking which hung 
about monasteries and convents was swept out of England 
by the Eeformation. It has returned only in my life- 
time, for gastronomic or health reasons rather than for 
religious mortification. The old object was to make 
tasty and palatable what the rules of the Church allowed. 
The French have a real talent for making good dishes out 
of nothing, and this they share with no other nation in 
the world. Ox-tails are not used to make soup in France, 
or were not ; but when the FVench refugees came over 



APRIL 81 

here, they found ox-tails were thrown away and were very 
cheap. They immediately utilised them, and made the 
excellent ox-tail soup which we use in England to this 
day. The black cooks of America, I am told, never spoil 
good materials, and they cook good things excellently. 
The English have a peculiar gift for taking the taste out 
of the best materials that are to be found in the world. 
A few terrible tricks of the trade are answerable for a 
good deal of this — iron pots and spoons ; soda thrown 
into many things ; water poured over roasted meat for 
gravy ; soups cleared with the white of eggs. This will 
spoil the best soup in the world, not only taking away all 
flavour of meat and vegetables, but supplying a taste 
that is not unlike the smell of a dirty cloth. Of late, in 
the effort to keep pace with foreign cooking, things 
in England have grown too messy, and I sometimes 
regret the real Old English dishes of my childhood. The 
system of trying to make one thing look like another is 
very objectionable, I think, and wanting in good taste. 
But I must return to my maigre receipts. The details cars 
be found in ' Dainty Dishes.' 

Vol-au-vent au Maigre.— Make a high Vol-au-vent 
crust. Prepare some quenelles made of fish— any white 
fish would do (lemon-soles, whiting, haddock, gurnet, &c.) ; 
some white bottled mushrooms preserved in salt, not 
vinegar (this is most important) ; some small pieces of 
boiled fish. Mix these together in a white sauce made of 
butter, flour (slightly cooked first, but not coloured) , then 
add the milk, warm the whole together, and pour it into 
the crust. 

A rather nice cake for luncheon can be made as 
follows : — Take three eggs, put them into the scale and 
weigh against them three equal parts of flour, sugar, and 
butter. Then break the eggs and put the yelks into a 
basin, melt the butter, add the flour and sugar, and mix 

G 



82 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

the whole. At the last moment add the whites of the 
eggs, beat slightly, and put it into the oven in a round 
flat tin with a thin rim. Serve it on a large round 
plate. Fresh-water fish, so rare now in England, though 
the traces of tanks and ponds are always to be found in 
the neighbourhood of old abbeys and monasteries, are 
still much eaten in the coimtry in France. Pike and carp 
marinaded are constantly seen at table. Marinading 
is far too little done in England; it is inost useful for 
many things — hares, venison, beef, and grouse — and it 
preserves the meat for some time, if that is what is wanted. 
It is described in ' Dainty Dishes,' but I give you also 
the following receipt : — 

German Receipt for Roast Hare.— Take a bottle 
of common white wine (or any remnants of already opened 
bottles) ; cut up onions, carrots, herbs, bay-leaf, a clove or 
two ; and pour the whole over the raw hare in a shallow 
baking-pan, basting it well every few hours in a cool 
place for two or three days. Then prepare the hare. Take 
off the head, lard it well, and put it into the roasting-pan 
with a little dripping and more onions, carrots, herbs, 
salt, and pepper. When roasted, take it out of the oven, 
pour off all the grease, and replace it by half a breakfast- 
cupful of thick sour cream, which is to be mixed with 
the gravy at the bottom of the pan. Eeplace it in the 
oven, baste well with the mixture, and serve just as it is, 
pouring the sauce over the hare. 

Chervil is always used in France for spring decoration 
of fish, cold meat, &c. It is much hardier and more 
easily grown than Parsley, and lives through the coldest 
weather if covered up with sticks and fern. In severe 
winters Parsley sometimes fails in EngUsh gardens. 

The life in the little French town near which we were 
was like a page out of a volume of Balzac's 'Vie de 
Province,' so full of character, and, in a sense, so far 
away and old-fashioned. 



APRIL 83 

I had the privilege of visiting and hearing the story 
of one of that charming type, the French old maid. I 
sat in her kitchen whilst her bonne prepared the Sunday 
dinner for herself, an adopted child, and the inevitable 
male friend, be he doctor, notary, or priest. The soup 
was maigre and economical : — One large onion cut up and 
fried in butter in a saucepan over a very slow fire till a 
nice yellow-brown. Then the saucepan filled up with 
boiling water from a kettle, and allowed to cook half an 
hour. Then strained, and a sufficient quantity of Vermi- 
celli added. Cook for fifteen or twenty minutes more, and 
serve. A chicken, prepared as before described, was 
roasted for an hour and a half before a slow wood fire, 
basted with butter all the time, and served with the butter 
round it as gravy. The salad was carefully picked young 
Watercress (never used by itself for salads in England), 
with oil and vinegar, and a hard-boiled egg cut into 
small quarters laid on the top. (Few know that Water 
cress can be grown in ordinary garden soil, in half-shade, 
if sown every spring.) The wine was good, and the 
sweets came from the pastry-cook. 

During our short stay in France I saw several 
gardens, but nothing at all interesting. As we drove 
through the villages I noticed specimens of a white 
variety of Iberis gibraltarica (Candytuft) grown in pots, 
carefully pruned and cared for, standing in the windows 
of the cottages. Managed in this way, it made a very 
charming spring pot-plant. I have never seen it so 
treated in England. It is not quite hardy. I brought 
home cuttings, but they all died. I have now several 
plants which I have grown from seed. From their 
appearance I do not think they will flower well till they 
are two or three years old ; they will want hard cutting 
back directly after flowering. 

It was early in the year, and no sort of spring 

o2 



84 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

gardening was aimed at in the large bare beds cut in rather 
coarse grass. I think turf is overdone in England ; but 
why it sliould be attempted at all where it grows badly, 
and is rarely successful, I cannot imagine. How infinitely 
prettier it would be to have earth planted with shrubs 
and low-growing, creeping plants, with grass paths ! The 
shrubs that I saw in France seemed to me as much over- 
pruned- —indeed stiffly cut back in spring — as they are 
under-pruned in England. 

April 16th. — Wo returned home last night. At this 
time of year how a week or ten days changes the growth 
in one's garden ! I must confess that sometimes, coming 
home after dark, I have taken a hand-candle to inspect 
some special favourite. 

Buddleia globosa is well worth growing, even in a 
small garden. It has many merits besides its golden 
balls, which so charmed Mr. Bright, and which here, at 
any rate, I think rather disappointing. The growth is 
lovely ; and the tone of the green unusual, mixing well 
with many summer flowers. It lasts a long time in 
water in the hottest weather. The more you cut it, the 
better it seems to do. It was killed to the gi'ound in the 
cold winter of '94-95, but broke up from the roots as 
strong as ever. Some plants do this ; others never recover. 
The shrubby Veronicas never do break up from the roots 
here. My large Arbutus, killed the same winter, threw up a 
few shoots, but never did any good, and died the next year. 
I think the shrubby Veronicas so well worth growing that 
I have five or six varieties; and as they are not quite 
hardy, I keep pots of cuttings every winter. This we do 
also with three or four nominally hardy Cistuses, though 
they are a little more difficult to strike. Holianthemums 
or Eock-roses ai'e well worth gi'owing from seed in a 
sunny dry situation. I know nothing more charming 
than these delicate, bright-flowered little plants blazing 



APRIL 85 

and blinking in the sunshine. I have a double-flowered 
scarlet Eock-rose, not figured in any of my books, and 
which I have rarely seen in gardens. It flowers persist- 
ently for many months. 

April nth. — We have had lately a severely cold week 
— Blackthorn winter indeed. How the poor garden 
shrivels and shrinks, and seems to lose all its colour ! 

Many years ago, in a volume of Tennyson given me by 
Owen Meredith, he wrote on the fly-leaf the following little 
poem, full of sympathy for the gardener : — 

In Nature can au^ht be unnatural ? 

If so, it is surely the frost, 
That Cometh by night and spreadeth death's pall 
On the promise of summer which spring hath lost. 
In a clear spring night 
Such a frost pass'd light 
Over the budding earth, like a ghost. 

But the fiowers that perish'd 

Were those alone 
Which, in haste to be cherish'd 
And loved and known, 

Had too soon to the sun all their beauty shown. 
Lightly vested, 
Amorous-breasted 
Blossom of almond, blossom of peach — 

Impatient children, with hearts unsteady, 
So young, and yet more precocious each 

Than the leaves of the summer, and blushing already 
These perished because too soon they lived ; 
But the oak-flower, self-restrained, survived ; 

' If the sun would win me,' she thought, ' he must 

Wait for me, wooing me warmly the while ; 
For a fiower's a fool, if a flower would trust 
Her whole sweet being to one first smile.' 



86 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



MAY 

Vegetable growing — Autumn annuals — Spring seeds— Description 
of my own garden— Weeding — Houses facing west — Flowering 
shrubs — May flowers — Sundials— Roses and Creepers— History 
of the Tulip — Salads — Plant shelters — Sweet Verbena — Blue 
Anemones — Packing cut flowers — A few simple receipts — Plants 
in pots. 

May 1st.— I have not mentioned during these spring 
months the cultivation of the kitchen garden. I leave 
that entirely to my gardener, only helping throughout 
the year by looking up in Vilmorin's book (mentioned in 
January) any special vegetables v^rhich are not generally 
cultivated in England, and noting any deficiency in 
quantity or quality. No one can expect everything to be 
equally successful every season, as an unfortunate sowing, 
a dry fortnight, a late frost, or a cold wind are answerable 
for a good deal in any garden. It is always some con- 
solation if one finds one's failm-es are shared by one's 
neighbours, because then it is more likely to be from 
some atmospheric cause than from one's own bad cultiva- 
tion. All the same, the best gardeners have the fewest 
failures. 

We do not sow Sunflowers and many autumn-flowering 
annuals before the first week in May. For out-of-the-way 
hardy and half-hardy seeds I find no one is more to be 
relied on than Mr. Thompson of Ipswich. His packets 
of seed are not so large nor so expensive as those of 
some other first-class nurserymen, a great advantage for 



MAY 87 

amateurs. His catalogue is one of the best — simple, 
concise, and clear, and giving all the information really- 
wanted, except perhaps by beginners. These, however, 
are equally depressed and bewildered by every catalogue 
and every gardening book. 

Nothing is so delightful as the first warm days, which 
come sometimes at the beginning, sometimes later in May. 
By this time all the March seeds are well up, the whole 
garden teems with life, and all Nature seems full of joy. 
The following little poem, which was in a May Pall 
Mall two years ago, expresses so charmingly the joyous- 
ness of spring that I copied it out : — 

BABY SEED SONG 

Little brown seed, oh ! little brown brother, 

Are you awake in the dark ? 
Here we lie cosily, close to each other ; 

Hark to the song of the lark — 
' Waken ! ' the lark says, ' waken and dress you ; 

Put on your green coats and gay. 
Blue sky will shine on you, sunshine caress you — 

Waken ! 'tis morning — 'tis May ! ' 

Little brown seed, oh ! little brown brother, 

What kind of flower will you be ? 
I'll be a poppy — all white, like my mother ; 

Do be a poppy, like me. 
What ! you're a sunflower ? How I shall miss you 

When you're grown golden and high ! 
But I shall send all the bees up to kiss you ; 

Little brown brother, good-bye. 

May 3rd. — It seems almost useless to describe my 
garden. Though I myself am so very fond of it, there 
is no reason anyone else should understand why I love it ; 
and when I read the description of the gardens that 
other people love, I wonder I can bear with it at all. It 
is surrounded, as I said before, with large forest trees ; 



'6S POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

and that most objectionable of conifers, a Wellingtonia, 
grows almost in the middle of the garden. I cannot cut 
it down, as this would deprive the lawn-tennis ground of 
the only shade it has. How I long to turn that lawn- 
tennis ground into a sunk Dutch garden, with its low red 
wall all round it ! Yet I know I should miss them very 
much if I no longer heard the cries of the lawn-tennis 
game or the more recent click of the croquet-balls. The 
top of the low wall, in front of the south side of the 
house, is a long bed of Tea Eoses. Mr. Eobinson names all 
the best sorts, so I need not do so. They do not flourish 
very well with us, I confess, and yet certainly better than 
any other Eoses. It is their first flowering in June that 
is not very good. From August to October they are a 
great delight, flowering at intervals during all that time, 
and sending up long lovely shoots of brown leaves, that 
one can gather without scruple, as they are sure to be in- 
jured by the winter frosts ; and the more the blooms are 
cut, the more they flower. At the other side of the lawn- 
tennis ground I have a little rockery, the system of which 
I can recommend to anyone who wants room and various 
aspects for plants without blocking out the rest of the 
garden or the distance beyond. We dug a large deep hole 
in the ground, carrying up gradually a small irregular 
path to the level of the ground on each side, roughly 
placing pieces of flat stone on each side of the path (to 
form steps) and all round the hole at the bottom. We 
kept the earth from falling by facing it with a wall of 
stones, stuck flatly and irregularly into the earth ; this 
makes an excellent cool and deep root-bed for many 
Alpine and other plants. When it rains, there is a natural 
tendency for the water to drain down in all directions into 
the hole at the bottom. This hole had been dug deeper 
in the middle, and puddled with a little clay, not cement ; 
and arge stones were laid in the bottom, to retain the 



MAY 89 

water longer than it naturally would remain in our sand. 
For really dry weather some pipes are laid on undergound 
to a tap in another part of the garden, from which the 
water runs into a tub at the top of the rockery for 
watering, and the overflow falls into the hole. In 
this way our tiny water-bed is kept moist in the dryest 
weather. 

We grow in the water one of the most beautiful of our 
river plants, the Banuucuhis lingua, or Water Buttercup. 
It has a noble growth and large, shining, yellow flowers, 
which bloom for a long time. Its only fault is that, if 
given the position it likes, it grows and increases with 
weed-like rapidity, and in a small space must be ruth- 
lessly thinned out when it begins to grow in spring, and 
often later as well. We have in the hole Japanese 
Primulas and Japanese Iris {Kempferi), though they do not 
flower as well as in the dry bed above, which is the 
hottest, dryest, most sunny place in the garden ; and the 
only attention they get, after being planted in good leaf 
mould, is some copious waterings when the flower-buds 
are formed. They have the largest, finest flov/ers I have 
ever seen in England. I must not forget our native 
Forget-me-nots, which, Tennyson says, ' grow for happy 
lovers.' It is a much more persistent flowerer than the 
garden kind. In his ' Lancashire Garden ' Mr. Bright 
praises very much the Primttla japonica, and nothing 
can be more charming and unusual than the whorled 
growth of its flower-stems. He calls the blossoms crimson ; 
I call them dark magenta — at any rate, they have that 
purple tinge which spoils so many reds. Where they 
really look well is in a moist ditch or on the damp half- 
shaded edge of a wood. If the ground is prepared for 
them, and the white kind planted too, they sow themselves 
in endless variety of tone from dark to light ; but they 
are not especially suited for beds or mixing with other 



90 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

plants, and from their colour are not worth growing in 
pots. 

All round the top of the hole described above is a 
raised bed, left irregular in places from the throwing-up of 
the earth that was dug out. The whole thing is on a very- 
small scale in my garden, but it partakes slightly of the 
nature of the rockeries at Kcw, which anyone interested 
in this kind of gardening can see, and by seeing learn. 
The great point of making a rockery is to have large 
mounds of good earth, and then lay stones on them, 
making terraces and little flat beds, stoned over to retain 
the moisture and prevent the earth being washed away. 
The old idea was to have stumps of trees or mounds of 
stones and brick, and then fill in the interstices with 
earth. This is no good at all ; the plants have no depth 
of earth, and perish. The trouble of such gardening 
consisLs only in the constant hand-weeding that it 
requires. This must be done by someone more or less 
experienced, as very often the most precious plant looks 
like a small weed, while in other cases many planted 
things are no better than weeds if left alone, and quickly 
choke and destroy all their less vigorous neighbours. 

Weeding ! "What it means to us all ! The worry of 
seeing the weeds, the labour of taking them up, the way 
they flourish at busy times, and the dangers that come 
from zeal without knowledge ! When we first went to 
live in the country, an affectionate member of the family, 
who hates weeds and untidiness of all kinds, set to work 
to tear up ruthlessly every annual tliat had been sown, 
and with pride said, ' At any rate, I have cleared that 
bit of ground.' Weeding, if tiring, is also a fascinating 
employment ; and so is spudding. The first is best done 
in dry weather, the second in moist. I am all for reducing 
lawns and turf, except for paths, in small gardens ; but 
what there is of grass should be well kept, and free from 



MAY 91 

weeds. A quantity of daisies showing up their white 
faces, though pretty in theory, are in fact very unbecom- 
ing to the borders on a sunshiny summer's day. 

The longest side of the house faces west. How I love 
it because of this ! To my mind, every country house 
is dull that does not face west, and have its principal 
view that way. Modern civilisation forbids us to enjoy 
the sunrise, but the varied effects of the sunset sky 
glorify everything — the most commonplace gable or the 
ugliest chimney-stack, a Scotch fir or an open field, which 
assumes a green under an evening primrose sky that it 
never has at any other time. The sky is like the sea for 
its ever-changefulness. You may watch sunsets most 
carefully every day in the year, and never will you see 
twice exactly the same effect. How we all know, and 
notice after midsummer, that marching south of the sun 
at setting-time ! The old fellow in June sets right away 
to the north, over the Common, changing groups of trees 
and a httle distant hill to purple and blue. At the 
autumn equinox he looks straight in at the windows as 
he goes down between the stems of the two tall tir-trees. 
Who, when forced to come in to dinner on a summer's 
evening, does not appreciate a west dining-room with tall 
panes of glass which give the power to measure the 
gradations of the sky, from the deep grey-blue of night's 
garments at the top, to the bright gold, streaked with 
purple and crimson, at the base — the earth growing 
mysteriously dark all the while, and the evening star 
shining brighter every minute ? Architects tell you, and 
men say, they prefer that a house should face south-east. 
I do not at all agree with them ; the effects of evening to 
me are too much to give up for any other advantage in the 
world, real or imaginary. It is far easier to make some 
other room into a breakfast-room, to catch the morning 
sun in winter, than to change your dining-room in the 



92 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

summer for the sake of the sunsets. To the west, then, 
I have my fountain, level with the turf, and with only the 
ornament of some special plants. To the right of the 
fountain is a large bed of carnations, slightly raised and 
terraced with stones, to give good depth of rich soil, 
unrobbed of moisture from the strong-gi'owing shrubs 
behind, that are especially necessary for protection from 
the north and east. I strongly advise that on first coming 
to a new place you should never cut down much till you 
have given all the consideration possible to that matter of 
protection. I cannot repeat too often that wind-swept 
gardens can never be really satisfactory to the gardener. 
On the left of the fountain, cut in the grass, are the two 
long borders, far the most difficult part of the garden 
to keep as I should wish them to be. They should be 
always gay and bright, the highest plants planted down 
the middle ; and even they should be unequal in height. 
All plants that grow forward into the grass must be kept 
for other beds edged with stone or gravel. Borders cut 
in grass must be luxuriant and not untidy, and filled 
principally with plants which in their non-flowering 
season are not unsightly. It is for such borders that the 
seed beds and the reserve garden are so indispensable. 
On the left of these borders are a few specimen plants 
cut in the grass : — A Polygonum mispidatum, which is a 
joy from the first starting of its marvellous quick spring 
growth to its flowering-time, and to the day when its 
yellow autumn leaves leave the bare red-brown branches 
standing alone after the first frosts of October ; a Siberian 
Crab, beautiful with blossom in spring and with fruit in 
autumn ; also that lovely autumn-flowering shrub Des- 
modium pcnduliflorum, which has to be cut down every 
year, and which is never seen to advantage in a border 
because of its feathery and spreading gi'owth. Behind 
these again, and facing due north and shaded from the 



MAY 



93 



south, is a large bed of the old Moss-Eose, which in this 
position does exceedingly well. The large branches are 
partly pegged down, and they are not pruned back very 
hard. Behind the fountain, away from the house, are 
bamboos, Japanese grasses, and low-growing, shrubby 
Spiraeas ; the smallest gardens should not be without 
some of these, more especially S. thunbergi, so precious for 
its miniature early flowers and its lovely decorative foliage, 
and very useful for picking and sending away. Clethra 
(Sweet Pepper Bush) is also a useful little shrub, as it 
flowers in July, when watering helps it to bloom well. 
But I have only to refer you again and again to the 
' English Flower Garden.' If you study this, you will 
never lack variety or plenty, whatever your soil, or your 
situation, or your aspect — no, nor even your nearness to 
that deadly enemy of plant life, a smoky town. 

A lovely spring-flowering shrub is Exochorcla grandi- 
flora. I can most conscientiously say, ' Get it.' It is per- 
fectly hardy ; the flowers, full-blown and in bud, are of 
an exquisitely pure white, and the foliage is light-green, 
delicate, and refined. 

One of the most precious of May flowers, and one not 
nearly enough grown, is the early Dutch Honeysuckle. 
It is nearly white, though it dies off yellow. I have 
named it in the lists, but it deserves, if only for picking, a 
place in every garden. Being an early bloomer, it re- 
quires a warm place, and would do admirably against the 
low wall of any greenhouse. Those precious frontages to 
greenhouses, in large places and in what I call ' gardeners' 
gardens,' are so often left unused, neat, empty, and bare. 
On these wasted places many lovely things would grow, 
and none better than this beautiful Dutch Honeysuckle, 
with its double circles of blooms, its excellent travelling 
qualities, and its powerful sweet scent, unsurpassed by 
anything. It is, I suppose, like many things, better for 



94 rOT-rOURRI I'ROM A SURREY (GARDEN 

good feeding. It wants nothing but cutting back hard as 
soon as it has made its summer growth, after flowering, to 
Iceep it well in its place. It flowers profusely year after 
year, and it is easily increased by summer layering. 

Old Man or Southernwood (Artemisia abrotamtm) 
ought never to be forgotten. It grows easily from cuttings 
stuck into the ground in any of the early sununer months. 
I am told that it is an especial favourite with the London 
poor. Perhaps its strong smell brings back any chance 
association with the country and the cottage garden. It 
reminds one of the old story of the poor Irishman, when 
the Lady Bountiful of the place had transfonxied his cabin 
into the graceful neatness of an l^^nglish cottage. He gazed 
half-indignantly and half-gratofully on the change. ' It is 
all very kind,' said he, ' but the good lady does not know 
how dear to a poor man is everything that reminds him 
of the time when he played, instead of working. These 
groat folks do not understand us.' But, after all, are we 
not all like that ? Does not sweet Nature herself throw a 
veil over the storms of middle-life and soften memories, 
which become sharp, vivid, and clear only concerning our 
yoimg days and the time when ' we played,' full of 
buoya.nt hope for all that lay before us ? 

I have always wished for a sundial in the middle of 
my grass walks where they widen into a circle. Even 
in an unpretending modern garden I do not think a sun- 
dial is affected— or, at any rate, not very— and I long to 
write round the top of it my favourite among the old 
Italian mottoes : — ' I only mark the bright hours.' To 
the left of my long boi'ders ai'e four large, most useful, 
square beds, divided by narrow green paths. These are 
planted and sown, and renewed three or four times a year ; 
and I ahvays wonder how anyone gets on without such 
kinds of beds. The Love-in-the-Mist and Gypsophila 
gracilis are sown broadcast here together twice a year, 



MAY 95 

in March and in September. I always save my own seed of 
Love-in-the-Mist ; but in doing that, you must be careful 
to mark the best, largest, and bluest flowers. Then what 
you keep is far better than what you can buy ; but, unless 
you take this trouble, seeds grown in one place degenerate. 
To the right of the long borders are two large Eose beds 
with Eoses — old-fashioned rather than very large ones. 
The Hybrid Perpetuals do so badly in the light soil ; but 
here are Gloria Muncli, Cottage-maid, the dear little 
pink Bose de Meaux, the large white Cabbage, and so 
on. Beyond the Eose beds is a covered walk, made 
with stems of small fir-trees bound together with wire — 
an attempt at a pergola, but ]iot by any means as solid 
as I should like. On this grow vines, hardy climbing 
Eoses, Honeysuckles, and a dark claret-coloured Vine 
(which looks well), Aristolochia, Clematis (various), and, to 
make a little brightness in spring, two Kerrias. The 
single one, which is the original Japanese plant, is very 
uncommon, and yet so pretty — much l)ettei' for wedging 
than the double kind, the old Jews-mallow of cottage 
gardens. 

All these plants want constant watching, pruning, 
manuring, chalking, mulching. One ought always to be 
on the watch to see if things do not look well, and why 
they do not. The great thing to remember is, that if 
a plant is worth growing at all it is worth growing 
healthily. A Daisy or a Dandelion, fine, healthy, and 
robust, as they hold up their heads in the spring sunshine, 
give more pleasure and are better worth looking at than 
the finest flower one knows that looks starved, drooping 
and perishing at the flowei-ing-time. With many plants 
bore, if not watered at the flowering-time, the buds droop 
and the flowers never expand at all. 

We have been eating lately, as Spinach, and found it 
quite delicious, the leaves cf the Chicory, which Sutton 



q6 rOT-rOURRl FROM A SURREY (lARPl^N 

calls ' Cihristiuas Salail.' It is a lirst-ratu j)Iaiil/ all 
through tho winltn-, an oxct^llont salad, and now so good, 
nscfiil, and wholesomo to cat cooked. It should be di'ossed 
as rocommondod foi- Spinach in ' Dainty Dishes.' 

This is tho time to make Khuharb jam ; if carefully 
nuido, and a litth^ ginger added, it is very good indeed. 

To my mind, few Uowors please tho eye as the Tulip 
does. 

T. gcsncriaita, with its lumdsomo long stem and 
brilliant [lower, gives mo especial delight. The Tulip is 
a nuMuber of the Lily family, and has an interesting 
history, which T read one day in a newspaper. It is a 
luitive of Asia Minoi-, and was brought fi'om Constantinople 
in 1557. It was first llowered in England in 1559 by tho 
wife of an apothecary. She had procured tho first bulb 
from a grateful sailor who had brought it homo in return 
for attentions during sickness, by which his life was saved. 
It was all ho had, like the widow's mite, but it was a 
source of great profit to the wife of the apothecary, 
who tenderly cultivated it, and st)ld the bulbs for a guintni 
each after she had, by gootl care, procured a sulVicient 
stock of them. 

May 5th. — Tlu^ garden looks dull just now ; but foiu- 
weeks of no rain always produce that elVect on this soil. 
When tho showers do come, everything revives in the 
most extraordinary way, partly from tho earth being so 
warm and i\v\. The only rather showy things in tho 
garden are some early rt>d Rhododendrons, and they look 
droopy ; a Siberian Crab, which has been ono mass of 
anowy-white blossoms for a fortnight ; and a most desir- 
able little shrub calUul l^eutzia elegans, quite hardy, 
totally unafVected by ovu" coldest winters, flowering every 
year, and wanting no attention except the cutting-back 
every year after flowering. Berberiscs I do not find quite 
so hardy as one expects them to be, but this very likely is 



MAY 97 

because thoy do not j^row very robust, owinp; to the dryness 
of the soil. B. Darwinii was nearly killed by the severe 
winter, but is now fiowerinp; profusely, and is a lovely 
and desirable shrub. The whole charm of flowering 
shrubs, to my mind, depends on their being given lots of 
room, and suHicient care being taken of them to make 
them individually healthy plants. The dear little pink 
Dajihne Gneorum is doing well, but I have myself often 
given it a canful of water during the last fortnight. It 
is very much strengtlienod if, after the llowei'ing, you 
layer a certain number of the branches, covering them 
with a little peat ; tliis enables you to increase your 
stock of plants, and impi-oves the si/e of your specimen 
plant. 

All this last month we have been eating the thin- 
nings of seedling Lettuces as salad, and they are most 
delicious. All kinds of Lettuces seem to eat equally wuU ; 
they are grown in boxes in a frame. I first thought of 
eating them from seeing that they were thrown away to 
give room for those that were going to be planted out. I 
now purposely grow them in extra quantities, and in 
succession, so that my salads may never fall short. Even 
out of doors, in the summer, we sometimes grow them if 
our large Lettuces run to seed. They make infinitely 
better salad than the tough little brown Cos Lettuces, 
grown with such care in frames all through the winter. 
All the year round I always mix the salad on the table 
myself, using nothing but oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper ; 
and I always have brought to table, on a separate little 
plate, some herbs. Tarragon, Chervil, and some very 
young Onions ; these I cut up over the Lettuces before 
I mix in the oil and vinegar. If you have no young 
Onions, Chive-tops do very well. These herbs are an 
immense addition to any salad, l)ut are far from 
universally used in England, though they are quite easy 

II 



98 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

to grow, for anyone who has a kitchen garden, even a 
small one. The Tarragon, however, and the Onions have 
to be grown in the conservatory in the winter. Many 
young gardeners do not know that the secret of young 
Potatoes being good, and not watery, is to take them out 
of the ground several days before you boil them. A little 
Mint chopped on to young Potatoes instead of Parsley 
makes a pleasant change ; but then we English like Mint, 
and it is very different here from the Mint grown in dry 
countries, which is just like Peppermint. The French 
have a way of boiling Asparagus which is especially good 
for the thin green Asparagus so common in our English 
gardens : — You tie them into a bundle, and put them> 
stalk downwards, into a fairly deep saucepan. In this 
way the heads are only cooked by the steam, and do not 
become soppy. 

May 10th. — I have a friend who to-day writes she is 
having iron rings driven into an old stone house round 
the windows so as to hold pots of Carnations and 
Geraniums, to hang dovra as they do in Tyrol and 
Switzerland. This will look pretty, no doubt, if it 
answers ; but in our cold and windy summers I am sure 
they would do better if one pot were sunk inside another 
with some moss between, so that the evaporation caused 
by the wind, which freezes the roots, should not be so great. 
Abroad the pots are frequently glazed either all the way 
down or part of the way down ; this stops evaporation. 
So many greenhouse plants, when they are ' stood out,' as 
the gardeners say, get injured by the cold winds on the 
pots, which does far more harm than the wind on the 
leaves. One of the best and simplest remedies is to 
dig moderately deep trenches with a raised border round 
them of turf or boards, and stand the pots in these, 
instead of on the open ground. Sheets of corrugated iron 
cut to convenient sizes make excellent movable shelters 



MAY 



99 



for plants from the north-east wind. Shelter in all 
forms, without taking too much out of the soil, as trees 
and shrubs do, is the great secret of success in all kinds 
of gardening. I should spend my life in inventing shelters 
if I lived on the East Coast ; but I confess that tem- 
porary protections are not very pretty. Another good 
method of obtaining shelter is to use common hurdles of 
iron or wood, or flat laths with Gorse or Bracken twisted 
into them. When all your hand-lights are in use in Spring, 
a good deal of protection from frost may be given to the 
seed beds by sheets of newspaper held down by a stone or 
two ; muslin sewn over a zinc wire-coop will keep out six 
or seven degrees of frost. Dried Bracken spread over 
frames is even better for keeping out frost than matting, 
and is nearly as easily removed. 

May 11th. — Epimediums are charming little plants 
with lovely, graceful foliage, and are well worth growing 
if you have a moist and shady corner. E. pinnatum is 
perhaps the best, and has long clusters of small yellow 
flowers ; the leaves are very pretty, and mix well with any 
flowers. 

Aloysia citriodora (Sweet Verbena) is a plant that is 
a universal favourite. I have never known anyone, not 
even those who dislike strongly scented flowers, not be 
delighted with the delicious refreshing smell of its leaves, 
which they retain long after they are dried. Yet you go 
to house after house, and find no plants growing out of 
doors. Their cultivation is simple, and they require 
but little care to make them quite hardy; out of five 
or six plants which I have out of doors, only one died 
in the hard winter two years ago. If you have any small 
plants in your greenhouse (if not, buy them at sixpence 
apiece), put them out at the end of May, after harden- 
ing off, in a warm sunny place, either close to a wall or 
under the shelter of a wall. Water them, if the weather 

u2 



loo POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

is dry ; and do not pick them much the first year, as their 
roots correspond to the top growth. Cut off the flowers 
as they appear. When injured by the frost, never cut 
the branches down till quite late in the following year. It 
is this cutting-back that causes the death of so many 
plants ; the larger stems are hollow, and the water in 
them either rots or freezes the roots. In November 
cover the roots of the Verbena with a heap of dry ashes ; 
this is all the care they require, and they will break up 
stronger and finer each year. I have kept plants in this 
way year after year, even in an open border. I believe 
they would grow in London gardens as long as they have 
plenty of sun ; and if the plant is weak when they begin to 
grow in the spring, it would be well to pick off some of 
the shoots. The cuttings strike quite easily all through 
the summer in sand in a greenhouse or under a bell-glass. 
May 14cth. — I suppose it is the same with everything in 
life that one really cares about, and you must not, any of 
you, be surprised if you have moments in your gardening 
life of such profound depression and disappointment that 
you will almost wish you had been content to leave 
everything alone and have no garden at all. This is 
especially the case in a district affected by smoke or 
wind, or in a very light sandy soil. Five weeks without 
a drop of rain, and everything bursts into flower and as 
quickly goes off. Two or three days ago the lilacs were 
quite beautiful, having responded well to last year's 
pruning ; now they are faded and scentless, and almost 
ugly. The German Irises, too, were blooming well, with 
long healthy stalks. I find that what helps them here is 
to grow the small pieces one buys from the nurseryman 
for two or three years in rich garden soil, where they 
grow quickly, making roots and leaves. After that I 
move them into some dry border facing east or south, 
and I find that they then flower as well as one 



MAY loi 

can possibly desire. The beautiful pale-blue Anemone 
apennina is now nodding its little blue heads under my 
big trees. In the far-away days of my childhood— it 
must have been in the 'Forties^a really typical man-of- 
the-world presented my mother with four well-bound 
volumes of Mrs. Hemans' poems. Imagine any man 
giving such a present now ! And yet she wrote some 
pretty things, of which the following is a specimen, and 
certainly it is quite as good as many modern flower- 
poems :— 

TO THE BLUE ANEMONE 

Flower of starry clearness bright, 
Quivering urn of coloured light, 
Hast thou drawn thy cup's rich dye 
From the intenseness of the sky ? 
From a long, long fervent gaze 
Through the year's first golden days 
Up that blue and silent deep 
Where, like things of sculptured sleep. 
Alabaster clouds repose 
With the sunshine on their snows ? 
Thither was thy heart's love turning, 
Like a censer ever burning. 
Till the purple heavens in thee 
Set their smile, anemone ? 

Or can those warm tints be caught 

Each from some quick glow of thought ? 

So much of bright soul there seems 

In thy bendings and thy gleams, 

So much thy sweet life resembles 

That which feels and weeps and trembles, 

I could deem thee spirit-filled 

As a reed by music thrilled 

When thy being 1 behold 

In each loving breath unfold. 

Or, like woman's willowy form, 

Shrink before the gathering storm, 

I could ask a voice from thee 

Delicate anemone. 



I02 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY) GARDEN 

Flower, thou seem'st not born to die, 
With thy radiant purity, 
But to melt in air away, 
Mingling with the soft spring day. 
When the crystal heavens are still. 
And faint azure veils each hill, 
And the lime-leaf does not move, 
Save to songs that stir the grove. 
And earth all glorified is seen. 
As imaged in some lake serene — 
Then thy vanishing should be. 
Pure and meek anemone. 

Flower, the laurel still may shed 
Brightness round the victor's head, 
And the rose in beauty's hair 
Still its festal glory wear, 
And the willow leaves droop o'er 
Brows which love sustains no more ; 
But thy living rays refined. 
Thou, the trembler of the wind. 
Thou, the spiritual flower. 
Sentient of each breeze and shower, 
Thou, rejoicing in the skies. 
And transpierced with all their dyes. 
Breathing vase, with light o'erflowing. 
Gem-like to thy centre glowing — 
Thou the poet's type shall be. 
Flower of soul, anemone. 



May l&th. — None of the small cheap bulbs are better 
worth growing than the Alliums, white and yellow. 
They increase themselves rapidly, and are quite hardy, 
though the white ones force well and are useful. People 
object to them because the stalks smell of garlic at the 
time of picking, but it goes off as soon as they are put into 
water; and the flowers are lovely, delicate, and useful, 
and have the great merit I mention so often of remaining 
a long time fresh in water. We leave some of the bulbs 
in the ground, and take up others. Those that are taken 



MAY 103 

up and dried in the sun flower best the following year ; 
and the finest bulbs can be planted together, the yellow 
making a fine splotch of colour just as the yellow 
Alyssum is over. The smaller the garden, the more 
essential it is to get a succession in colour. Avoid many 
white flowers in small gardens ; in roomy gardens with 
shady corners nothing looks better than the common 
single white and purple Eocket, raised from seed and 
planted in bold groups. It will grow in very dry places, 
but it soon gets untidy, and has to be cut back, which it 
does not seem to mind at all. 

Tiarella cordifolia (' Foam-flower,' Mr. Eobinson calls 
it) is a little Canadian plant which ought never to be left 
out of any garden. 

May Idth. — This is the first day of one of the great 
gardening interests and treats in the year — the Eoyal 
Horticultural Show in the Temple Gardens. I go every 
year now, and should be sorry to miss it. How odd it 
seems, that for years and years I never went to a flower 
show, or knew anything about them, and now they have 
become one of the interests of my life ! The great 
attraction this year is the revival of what are called 
old-fashioned late single Tulips — Breeders, Flames, &c. 
Those who like to buy the bulbs, ordering them care- 
fully by the catalogue, may have their gardens gay with 
Tulips for over two months, certainly the whole of April 
and May. The quantity of Apples, for so late in the 
season, was what struck me as almost the most remark- 
able thing at the show. One of the great growers told 
me that he had tried every conceivable plan for keeping 
Apples, but that nothing answered so well as laying them 
simply on open, well-aired shelves in a fruit-house that 
was kept free from frost. 

Tradescantia virginica (Spiderworts) are plants that 
do admirably in light soils, and flower two or three times 



I04 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

in the summer, wanting nothing beyond thinning-out 
and transplanting, and dividing in the autumn. The pale- 
blue and the white are even more beautiful than the dark- 
blue and the red-purple ; but they are all worth having, 
with their quaint-shaped flowers, so unlike other things. 
Every year, towards the end of May, I put in cuttings of 
Lavender and Eosemary. If the weather is dry, they are 
what gardeners call ' puddled-in,' which means that the 
ground is very much wetted first. In this way I have 
a constant supply of young plants. Eosemary is only 
really hardy with us if planted under the protection of 
large shrubs ; the keen winds of March cut them off in 
the open. Many other plants can be increased in the 
same way — early flowering shrubs such as Bibes san- 
guinum, the Forsythias, &c. Last spring, in Suffolk, I 
saw a charming little garden-hedge made of Bibes san- 
guinum, all one brilliant mass of its flowers. This is quite 
worth trying ; its success would depend on its being 
sharply pruned back the moment after flowering and 
before its seeds ripen. If your cuttings take, you can 
make your hedge in October. It is rather a repetition of 
the well-known and often-seen Sweetbriar hedge, which 
is all the better in a light soil for cutting back the young 
growths in July as well as for the spring pruning. It is 
a very good plan this month to take off some of the 
shoots — apt to be too numerous — that sprout on the 
pruned-back creepers, such as White Jasmine, Vines 
of all kinds, and Bignonia radicans, which handsome 
old garden favourite buds so late that the flowers do not 
expand unless treated in this way. 

May 22wf?. — Not the smallest and dryest garden should 
be without Stachys lanata, a white woolly leaved plant, 
called Eabbit's Ears by cottage children, and particularly 
attractive to some people, who through life retain the 
love of a child for something woolly and soft. Certain 



MAY 



^05 



characteristics are always reminding us, especially in 
some women, even when old, that they were once child- 
ren. These leaves were formerly used as edgings to beds 
in a very objectionable way ; but when grown in large 
clumps, they are most useful for picking. When cut, they 
go on growing in water, as Buttercups and Forget-me- 
nots do, and mix very well with many flowers, especially 
with Narcissiis poeticus, any of the German Irises, and 
the lovely white Scilla campanulata, a cheap bulb, of 
which we can hardly have too many. There is a blue 
and a pink kind, but the white is the most lovely ; and, in 
my opinion, all three are better worth growing than the 
usual Hyacinths, double or single. I think the people 
who live in the country in spring would find it more 
satisfactory to grow their greenhouse bulbs in large, open 
pans, several together, and covered with some of the 
mossy Saxifrages, than the usual two or three in a pot 
that gardeners are so fond of. If the pan has no hole at 
the bottom for drainage, you must put in lots of crocks, 
and be careful not to over- water; but bulbs like their 
roots moist. 

I made a curious experiment with the little double 
Prunus. One moved last autumn, and one moved last 
spring out of the nursery into a sunny, sheltered border, 
are both covered with bloom, and lovely objects. 
Another plant, which was left in a sunny border for a 
year, has no bloom on it at all, though it is quite healthy. 
This is one more proof of how much is to be done with 
reserve gardens and moving in this light dry soil. Next 
month I shall choose a wet day, and move them all 
back again into the nursery. The white Dog-tooth 
Violet and the various Pritillarias are very satisfactory 
things. They Hke shade and a certain amount of moist- 
ure, but it is not necessary for their cultivation ; they 
will grow anywhere. The common Saxifraga, London 



io6 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Pride, is a most desirable, useful plant ; it is the better 
for dividing every two years. It travels well picked, and 
is so pretty and decorative in water ; it looks well with 
large red Oriental Poppies, with no green at all. Silcne, 
too, looks well with it in small glasses, for a change. 

Dciitzia crenata is a charming shrub, and flowering 
well this year. Unless the garden is very small, anyone 
who lives in the country in spring ought to have it. 
There is so little room for shrubs in a very small plot of 
ground, and no garden can be beautiful except when the 
lie of the ground and the surrounding circumstances are 
beautiful. The only ambition that can be indulged in 
with a small flat ground is to grow the greatest number 
of healthy plants possible in the least amount of space, 
and so secure continuous and varied flowers for nine 
months of the year. 

The planning and laying-out of a small garden without 
great natural advantages ought to be as practical and 
simple as possible, a mere improvement on the cottage 
garden : — A small, straight path of brick or paving-stone, 
or gi-ass or gravel, though that is the least desirable of 
all to my mind. Let beds be on either side. If you have 
shrubs round the edge of the garden to hide the paling, 
have a grass path in front of the shrubs, and then square 
or long beds in the middle. Never have a small lawn 
with beds cut in that ; nothing gives so much labour and 
so little satisfaction as beds cut out of grass, and what 
makes them uglier still is bordering them again with 
some plant. The flowers are much better out in the 
open, away from the moisture-devouring shrubs. In 
gardening, as in many things in life, let your wits improve 
on what is rather below you ; never look at the squii-e's big 
garden in your neighbourhood, and then try and imitate it 
in small. Nothing makes a more charming edging for 
beds, if you have gravel paths, than large flat stones ; 



MAY 107 

they retain the moisture, and many small, low-growing 
things feather over the stones and look very well indeed. 

May 2Qth. — After a great deal of practice I really 
think I have evolved a way of packing cut flowers 
which is both economical and satisfactory. I collect all 
the linen-di'aper's and milliner's cardboard boxes that I 
possibly can ; while these remain good, my friends send 
them back to me by parcel post. The flowers are picked 
over-night, and put into large pans of water, keeping each 
kind in separate bunches. In the morning they are dried, 
and the different bunches are rolled up, fairly tightly, in 
newspaper — the great point being to exclude the air 
entirely both from the stalks and flowers. These 
bundles are then laid flat in the boxes ; the tighter they 
are packed, without actually crushing them, the better 
they travel. The lid is then put on, the box tied up 
with string, and sent to the station in time for an early 
train. 

When friends themselves take away the flowers, a box 
is unnecessary, as the separate bundles can be tied up 
together in some large sheets of newspaper. 

May 29th. — An excellent fish sauce is to beat some 
cream, and drop into it a little anchovy sauce from a 
quite recently opened bottle. It is served cold, in a little 
deep dish, not in a sauce-boat. 

Here is an Italian receipt for Eisotto : — Take a sauce- 
pan that holds about a quart, cut up a fair-sized onion 
into very small pieces, let it brown to a good golden colour 
in some fresh butter. Add the rice, raw and well washed, 
and let it cook slowly, stirring well for about five minutes. 
Add the saffron (half a thimbleful, well pounded), pour 
in the stock by degrees as needed by the quantity of 
rice. When the rice is done, draw it to one side, and add 
some grated Parmesan cheese. Stir it gently and serve, 
sprinkling some Parmesan on the top. 



io8 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

A good breakfast or lunch dish is called ' Convent 
Eggs ' : — Boil four eggs for ten minutes. Put them in 
cold water. Peel, and slice thin, one onion. Put into 
a frying-pan 1 oz. of butter ; when melted, add the 
onion and fry white. Then add a teaspoonful of flour ; 
mix it well. Add about half a pint of milk, till it forms a 
nice white sauce, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a quarter 
ditto of pepper. "When nicely done, add the eggs — cut into 
six pieces each, crossways. Toss them up ; when hot, 
serve on toast. 

Gaseony Butter. — Take equal quantities of parsley 
(picked from the stalk and parboiled), of anchovies 
(washed, boned, and pounded), and of fresh butter. Mix 
the ingredients well together, and pass them through a 
hair-sieve. Make into pats or balls, ice them, and serve 
with hot dry toast. 

Here is an old Indian receipt for curry powder : — 
1 lb. of coriander seed, \ oz. of red chilli, 1 oz. of black 
pepper, 4 oz. of cummin seed, 3 oz. of fenniquick, 1 lb. of 
turmeric, 1 oz. of dry ginger, and 1 oz. of poppy seed. 

For making curry, take 1^ lb. of meat cut into dice 
(mutton is perhaps the best), 2 oz. of butter, 1 large 
onion (the size of a large potato) and a large apple, one 
dessertspoonful and a half of curry powder, and a tea- 
cupful of stock. First melt the butter ; then fry the 
onion and apple, cut small, till quite brown. Then add 
the curry powder ; then the meat, cut into small pieces, 
and fry it in the above till quite brown, turning the meat 
constantly to keep it from burning. Then put the whole 
into a saucepan, add the stock, and place it near the fire 
to simmer for 3^ or 4 hours. If it gets too dry, add a 
little more stock. Mutton wants no butter added at the 
end, but chickens and rabbits do. 

To boil Patna Rice for Curry.— Put 3 quarts of 
spring water in a saucepan to boil, and add ^ lb. of rice. 



MAY 109 

Let it boil as fast as possible, with the lid off. Keep 
skimming it all the time. When done (which means that 
it is soft, but with a little hardness left in the middle), 
strain it off onto a sieve, and then let cold water run on 
it till it becomes quite cold. Put it back into the saucepan 
without water, to get hot enough for table. It should take 
1 hour to get hot ; it will be a bad colour if hurried. 

Curry of Ham Toast.— This receipt is useful to 
finish up an old ham : — 8 oz. of lean ham chopped very- 
fine, 1 teaspoonful of Harvey and 1 of Worcester sauce, 
1 teaspoonful of curry paste, a small piece of butter, a 
good tablespoonful of white sauce, and 2 tablespoonfuls 
of thick cream. All these should be mixed together and 
heated. Cut some rounds of toast, and serve very hot. 

The following receipt for bottling green Gooseberries I 
think you will find useful. The great point is to pick 
them just at the right moment, when neither too large 
nor too small. And much depends on waxing the corks 
well ; so I add the receipt for that. 

Bottled Green Gooseberries.— Pick off noses and 
stalks, but be careful not to burst the berries. Then fill 
some wide-mouthed bottles quite full, tie over the mouths 
paper with pricked holes, stand the bottles in boiling 
water, and just let the fruit turn colour (no sugar or any- 
thing with the fruit). Take the bottles out, and cork 
and seal them. The old way was to bury them head 
downwards in a garden border ; but if well sealed, to keep 
out all air, I do not believe that is necessary. Green 
Currants are excellent done the same way, and Morella 
Cherries, small Plums, and Damsons ;^only these must 
be ripe. 

Wax for Bottles. — 2 parts of beeswax, 1 part of resin, 
1 part powdered colour (Venetian red). Melt the beeswax 
and resin in an old iron saucepan. (Only melt, do not 
boil.) Then stir in the colour and let it cool a httle, both 



no POT-rOUKRI I'ROM A SURRICY C.AKDICN 

to avoid 1\m piiii^ciuL vi^JDurH iiiul U) LhickcMi Klijj;liLly. 
Dip tho corkod LopH of tlu* l)otU(is whilo holding Uuiin 
hori/iOU dally over Uio |)()ti, and Ijiini Uioiu i-ouiul, so as to 
run lilu) oxlra sLulV into Llm joiidj ; Uioy aixi tho Ix^ttor for a 
Hooond dip. Luavo tho vcinains of tho wax to hardoii in 
the pot, which shoidd l)o uscul for this purposo only. It can 
bo molted aj^ain at any tiinii, and luoro added as wanted. 
Mai/ 30////.. A f^food dual of real gardeniuf:; pleasure 
and satisfactory ornaniontal olToot is to ho had from 
growing plants in pots and tubs, vases and vessels of all 
kinds, both in small and big gardens. I use large Soa- 
kalo pots, when they are no longer wanted for the 
Sea-kale, by turning them upside down, putting two bits 
of slate in tho bottom of tho pot, some drainage and a 
few lumps of tuif, and blling it up with i-(ially good soil. 
As a variety a Khubarb-pot is useful. If you live near a 
pottery, they will turn you out pots to any shape you 
fancy. Flat ones, like those used by houso-painters, 
make a pliMisant change, especially for small bulbs ; also 
})etroleum casks cut in two, burnt inside, then tarred and 
painted. It must never, of course, be in any case for- 
gotten to have holes large enough to make good drainage. 
1 use butter casks treated in the same way, and have 
some little oak tubs in which bullion came fron\ America. 
Those aro very strong ; and some water-loving plants do 
nuicb better in wood, since the evaporation in summer is 
uol nearly so rapid as from the eartlienware. Tliat is an 
important thing to romembor, both as regards sun and 
wind. Tf the plants are at all delicate, and brought out of 
a greenhouse, tho i)ots, when standing out, ought to be 
either quite simk into the earth or shaded. This cannot, 
of com-se, bo done in the case of pots placed on a wall or 
toi'race, or on a stand ; constant caro about watering is, 
therefore, essential. Vivcn in wot weather they often 
want more water if the sun comes out, as the rain 



MAY III 

wets the leaves, but hardly affects the soil at all. 
On the Continent, where all kinds of pot-cultivation 
have been longer practised than in England, flower- 
pots are often glazed outside, which keeps the plants 
much moister, and makes less necessity for frequent 
watering. The French, especially, understand much 
better than we do the potting-on of plants. They begin 
by putting seeds into pots no bigger than a thimble, 
and sinking them in boxes with cocoanut fibre ; the little 
plants are then potted-on very gradually, never injuring 
the roots at all. The merciless way in which gardeners 
often tear off the roots collected at the bottom of a pot is 
most injurious to the plant. The large red jars that still 
bring oil from Italy, covered with their delightful coarse 
wicker-work, are useful ornaments in some gardens. They 
are glazed inside, and boring a hole in the bottom of 
them is not very easy work. They have to be more than 
half filled with drainage ; and plants do not do well in 
them for more than one season, as the surface of earth 
exposed at the top is so small. In old days the oil 
merchants in the suburbs of London used to cut them 
in two vertically, and stick them against their houses 
above their shops, as an advertisement or ornament. 
Enthusiastic amateurs will find that they get two very 
nice pots by sawing them in half horizontally, just below 
the sham handles. The top part, when reversed, requires 
the same treatment as was recommended for the Sea-kale 
pots. Many different things may be grown for standing 
out of doors in the large pots and tubs above described, 
and one plant may succeed another. The first rule, I 
think, is to grow in them those plants which do not grow 
especially well in your own local soil. To put into a pot 
what is flourishing much better in a bed a few yards off 
is, to my mind, a mistake. 

I grow in pots large old plants of Geraniums — Henry 



112 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Jacoby is especially good. They are kept on in the 
greenhouse from year to year, their roots tied up in moss 
and crowded into a pot or box with no earth and very 
little water through the winter ; early in April they are 
potted-up and protected by mats in a pit, as we have no 
room for them in the greenhouse. This causes them to 
be somewhat pot-bound, and they flower brilliantly during 
the latter part of the summer. French Marguerites (the 
yellow and the white) with large leaves are good pot-plants 
early in the year — far prettier than the narrow-leaved 
kinds. A double Pomegranate I have had for many 
years in a pot ; and if pruned out in the summer, it 
flowers well. The large, old-fashioned, oak-leaved, sticky 
Cape Sweet Geranium, which has a handsomer flower 
than the other kinds, makes a very good outdoor pot-plant. 
In potting-up strong, growing plants that are to remain in 
the pots for some time, it is useful to put some broken-up 
bones with the crocks at the bottom of the pots for the 
roots to cHng to them. 

Fuchsias, especially the old-fashioned fnlgcns, are 
satisfactory. Carnations — Eaby Castle, Countess of Paris, 
and Mrs. Eeynolds Hole — I grow in pots, and they do 
extremely well ; they must be layered early in July, and 
answer best if potted up in September and just protected 
from severe frosts. This year we took up a large clump of 
Montbretias out of a dry sunny bed of Cape bulbs in the 
kitchen garden, just as they were coming through the 
ground, and dropped them into a large Sea-kale pot. 
They flowered exceedingly well, and in September we 
put them back in the dry border to die down. In fine 
summers Myrtles and Oleanders flower well with us in 
tubs, not in the open ground. We treat Oleanders as 
they do in Germany — cut them back moderately in October, 
and dry them ofi", keeping them in a coach-house, warm 
shed, or wherever severe frosts will not reach them. 



MAY 113 

"When quite dry, they stand a moderate amount of frost. 
Then in March they are brought out, the ground is 
stirred and mulched, and they are taken into a greenhouse 
and brought on a bit. In May they are thickly covered 
with good strong horse-manure and copiously watered. 
At the end of the month they are stood out in the open 
on a low wall. During May, June, and July they cannot 
have too much water ; after that they want much less, or 
the leaves turn yellow and drop off. Campanula pyrami- 
dalis {see ' English Flower Garden '), a biennial, does well 
in pots, if shaded— blue and white both in one pot, or apart. 
The seedlings have to be potted up in autumn (plants a 
year old) ; as with the Canterbury Bells, if you cut 
off the fading flowers the flowering season is much pro- 
longed. Canterbury Bells {Campanula medium) make 
charming pot-plants for large rooms or corridors in 
May or June. They are annuals, and the seed can 
be sown out of doors in March or April, keeping the 
seedUngs well thinned, transplanting in the autumn, and 
potting-up the following spring {see 'English Flower 
Garden'). If strong crowns of Cavipanula persicifolia 
are potted up in autumn, they force beautifully in a 
moderate greenhouse in spring, and are most satisfactory 
for picking or otherwise. 

Some years I grow Solanum jasminoides over bent 
wires in pots ; they are rather pretty. Clethra (Sweet 
Pepper Bush), a small North American shrub, we lifted 
from the reserve garden in June and put into a pot, and 
it flowered very well. The variety of plants which can 
be experimented upon for growing in pots out of doors 
in summer is almost endless. Love-lies-bleeding {Ama- 
ranthus caudatus) is an annual ; but if sown in January, 
and very well grown-on as a fine single specimen plant, 
it looks handsome and uncommon in a green glazed 
pot or small tub. Nothing we grow in pots is more 

I 



114 rOT-rOURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

satisfactory than the old-faBhioned Calceolaria amplexi- 
caulis. It does not grow to any perfection in the beds, 
the soil l)oing too dry ; but, potted, it makes a splendid 
show through the late summer and autumn months. A 
red-brown kind, little grown now, which I brought from 
Ireland, and which I cannot name, also succeeds very 
well. They both want potting-up in good soil in April. 
The shrubby Veronicas {Speciosa rubra, Imperialis, and 
the variegated Andersoni) I grow in pots because they 
flower beautifully in the autumn ; and the drowsy bumble- 
bees love to lie on them, in the sunshine, when the 
Sedum spcctahilc is passing away. They are not quite 
hardy with us, as they cannot withstand the long, dry, cold 
springs. This in itself justifies the growing them in 
pots ; ill mild, damp districts they are lai'ge shrubs. The 
small bushy Michaelmas Daisies we put into pots at the 
end of July, and they fill up blank spaces on the wall 
late in the year. 

The blue Cape Agapanthus everybody grows in tubs. 
They have to be rather pot-bound and kept dry in the 
winter, to flower well ; as the flower-buds form, they want 
to be well watered and a weekly dose of liquid manure. 
Hydrangeas I lind diflicult to grow when planted out. 
The common kinds do exceedingly well in tubs, in half- 
shady ])laces, if tliey get a good deal of water. A varie- 
gated half-hardy shrub called Procosma varmjata makes 
a showy and yet restrained pot-plant. Large standard 
Myrtles I have had covered with blooms in August in 
tubs. My large old plant, which I had had many years, 
was killed this spring by being turned out of the room it 
had wintered in too early, because we came from London 
sooner than usual. The great difliculty in small places 
is housing these large plants in winter. They do not 
want much protection, but they must have some ; and the 
death of large old plants is grievous. We have just built 



MAY 115 

a new greenhouse, which we are going to try with no 
heating beyond a lamp-stove in very cold weather. If I 
lived in the country in the winter, I should grow small 
Evergreens in pots and try various experiments, which 
are of no use to me, as I live in London. In many cases 
the plants would not get injured by frost if one pot were 
sunk inside another. 



i2 



ii6 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



JUNE 

Hands and fingers after weeding — Shrub-pruning — Boxes for birds — 
Robins in greenhouse— 'Burning Bush' — Two Polygonums — 
Strawberries — Geraniums and cuttings — Cactuses — Freesia bulbs 
— Oloriosa siqjerba — Luncheon dishes — Cucumbers. 

June 2nd. — It must be admitted that one of the great 
drawbacks to gardening and weeding is the state into 
which the hands and fingers get. Unfortunately, one's 
hands belong not only to oneself, but to the family, who do 
not scruple to tell the gardening amateur that her appear- 
ance is ' revolting.' Constant washing and always keeping 
them smooth and soft by a never-failing use of vaseline — 
or, still better, a mixture of glycerine and starch, kept ready 
on the washstand to use after washing and before drying 
the hands — are the best remedies I know. Old dog-skin 
or old kid gloves are better for weeding than the so-called 
gardening gloves ; and for many purposes the wash- 
leather housemaid's glove, sold at any village shop, is 
invaluable. Good gardeners tell you never to cut flowers 
except with a sharp knife. This is good advice for shrubs 
or pot-plants, the clean cut being better for the plants ; 
but I advise that the knife should be on a steel chain a 
foot or so long, with a good pair of garden hook-shaped 
scissors at the other end — for the cutting of annuals or 
lately planted plants with a knife, in light soil, is very 
much to be avoided. The smallest pull loosens the roots, 
and immediate death, in hot weather, is the result. Another 
advantage of knife and scissors together on the chain is 



JUNE 117 

that they are more easy to find when mislaid, or lost in 
the warm and bushy heart of some plant. 

June 4:th. — Now, and even a little earlier, is the great 
pruning-time of the year for all spring-flowering shrubs. 
No doubt this cutting-out may be especially important in 
a light soil such as ours, where things flower themselves to 
death, like pot-bound plants. It is rather tiresome work ; 
it requires one person to cut out the old wood and 
slightly cut back the topmost branches with a long- 
handled nipper, and another to stand at a little distance 
and give directions. Without this precaution, the tree or 
shrub would often become lop-sided and unsightly. It is 
impossible for the man who is cutting to see what should 
be taken out. Choisya ternata must be gone over and 
cut back severely, in spite of aU one may have gathered 
from it while in flower. Also with Lilacs, Laburnums, 
Weigelias, Crab-apples, Double Cherries, Viburnum, and 
Pyrus japonica, this pruning — at any rate, in light soils — 
must never be neglected or forgotten. Very often only a 
little cutting-out is required. If it is done too late, it does 
more harm than good, and injures next year's bloom. 
Clematis montana succeeds much better if the young 
growth is cut off every year, which prevents it from 
getting tangled and matted, and all going to leaf instead 
of blossom. It is the same with Honeysuckles and 
Brooms. We sow the Brooms — white, yellow, and red 
and yellow — every year. They can always be transplanted 
when quite young to where they are to flower, and a good 
supply of young plants is so useful. 

The bird-boxes this spring have been well used by my 
little couples. Fly-catchers and Wrens never fail ; but 
this year we have had rather an uncommon bird, a Eed- 
start, and in the nest are seven eggs, though Bewick asserts 
that they only lay four or five. The eggs are pretty 
in colour, like the Hedge-sparrow's. The Eed-starc's 



ii8 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

eggs are a little longer and narrower in shape than 
the Hedge-sparrow's. A pair of Eobins have hatched out 
three families this year in my greenhouse — fourteen 
young Eobins ! They began early in March, and built on 
a top-shelf ; when the little ones were hatched, the old 
birds were so tame that they did not mind at all our 
putting the nest into a deep pot and placing it near the 
window for them to feed their young more conveniently. 
We also thought that in the pot it would attract less the 
attention of a terrible bird-killing old cat we have. He 
stays near a nest, scratching, till the parent birds are in 
such a frenzy of agitation and fear that they kick the 
young ones out of the nest ; he then devours them at his 
leisure. 

To those who have room I recommend the Venetian 
Sumach {Bhus cotimis), but it is not worth growing if it 
is crowded up. The most perfect way to grow it is to 
put the young plant in a well and richly made hole in the 
lawn, or at the edge of a shrubbery, the formality of which 
you wish to break. As it grows, cut away the turf from 
under it, and mulch it every winter ; this makes it grow 
quickly. When it gets into a good big plant, leave off 
mulching, and dress it with chalk, which will make it 
flower and bear its lovely feathery seeds in July. In a 
good sunny situation it will turn a flaming red colour, 
which is the reason for its English name of the ' Burning 
Bush.' It does better in moderately damp soils than with 
us, but a little care will make it grow anywhere. It is 
well adapted for picking and putting into water, as the 
leaves have a faint aromatic smell ; but it is not suited to 
very small gardens, for it spreads and takes up too much 
room. Crowding spoils its great characteristic of rooting 
into the ground all round. 

The finer sorts of Clematis (see ' English Flower 
Garden ') only do fairly well in our soil ; and till I gave 



JUNE 119 

them plenty of chalk they often died. All the large 
Jackmani tribe {see nurserymen's catalogues) want 
cutting back to the ground very early in the year, before 
they begin to break in the spring ; but they are worth all 
care and trouble. Many gardeners do not agree with me, 
but I am very fond of specimen plants grown in holes 
cut in grass, if they are planted with care, to group 
with shrubs behind them, and so as not to present a 
dotted-about appearance. In large gardens there are 
places enough — in shrubberies, by the side of water, or 
elsewhere — ^where these single specimens can grow 
healthily. In really small gardens they take too much 
room. In medium-sized gardens they become a feature 
and an interest. Several plants, besides the Venetian 
Sumach before mentioned, are such fine growers that 
they are well worth an individual place to show them 
ofif:— 

Polygonum cuspidatum and P. sacchalinense are very 
effective, and grow splendidly in dry soils if the out- 
side suckers are pulled out every spring ; they want no 
other care. Bocconia cor data {Bluvae Poppy), a Japanese 
plant, also wants no other treatment ; and in this way the 
old shoots grow up finer and stronger each year. They are 
herbaceous, like the Polygonums, and it is best not to cut 
down their hollow stems till the spring. Leycesteria 
formosa has a good growth ; its uncommon brown flowers 
come late in the summer. [Kerria japonica, especially 
the single one mentioned before ; the Privets, the golden 
one and the Alexandrian are the best.) Tamarisks, so 
seldom grown away from the sea, which are very pretty, 
especially the one with tiny pink flowers that come out in 
the spring [T. parviflora, I believe it is called) ; and many 
hardy Bamboos can all be grown separately as specimen 
plants ; as also the two Eulalias, japonica and zehrina, 
the tall Japanese grasses. The Arundo donax is the 



I20 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

lovely tall cane that grows in the ditches in Italy. But 
beware how you move it, if once you get it to grow ; it 
does not at all like being disturbed. Acanthus in full 
sun is very handsome, and grows large in rather a 
moist place ; so does the Giant Parsnip, but it is only a 
biennial. 

June dth. — The Strawberry season is beginning. For 
many years this fruit was poison to me ; now it gives me 
pleasure to think that I live almost entirely upon it for 
some weeks in the summer, eating it three times a day, 
and very little else, according to the practice of Linnteus, 
as quoted in March. It is of great importance that anyone 
who has room to grow Strawberries at all should grow 
several varieties — early, medium, or late {sec catalogues). 
For ices, creams, jams, &c., I greatly recommend some of 
the high-flavoured, old-fashioned Hautboys ; they are not 
very easy to get. The fruit grown on heavy soils round 
London for the market is often very tasteless ; but one 
must work away with books and experience to get good 
Strawberries and a fairly long succession of them. In 
growing Strawberries, everything depends on making 
some new rows every year ; layering the runners early, 
too, makes a great difference in the young plants the 
next year. ' Dainty Dishes ' has some instructive old- 
fashioned receipts for Strawberry jam. Strawberries make 
an excellent compote if boiling syrup is poured over 
them. Kaspberries are much better treated in this way. 
Currants require stewing. It improves all summer 
compotes to ice them well before serving. 

I do not at all despise planting out the old-fashioned 
scarlet and crimson Geraniums — Pelargoniums, they ought 
to be called. Old plants are very much better than the 
small cuttings ; but I have a few of these as well, and pots 
full of cuttings of the sweet-leaved kinds, of which there 
are so many varieties, and which are planted out the first 



JUNE 121 

week in June. Among red Geraniums, nothing is so fine 
and satisfactory as Henry Jacoby ; it is a very steady 
bloomer, and has a fine rich colour. When you are 
planting out your Geraniums and cuttings, do not forget 
that some must be kept back in their pots and given 
constant care and attention all through the summer for 
late autumn and winter flowering in the greenhouse. We 
keep our plants for winter in a cold frame through the 
summer, and carefully pick off the flower-buds. Easpail 
is an excellent double variety for winter picking. One 
the nurserymen call ' Easpail Improved ' is perhaps what 
it professes to be, though I do not see very much 
difference. It is because I live in London in the winter 
that I so much recommend double Geraniums, as the 
flowers of the single kind require to be gummed before 
they are packed. If not, they arrive only a little heap of 
scarlet petals in the paper, beautiful and lovely, but quite 
useless for putting into water. 

My old books taught me to take an interest in Cactuses, 
which in the early part of the century were much grown. 
They are very easy of cultivation, and well worth growing 
for those who spend June and July in their gardens. 
A succession must be aimed at, as the drawback is that 
the blooms only last a short time. The old Ccreus 
sjjeciosissimus surpasses in beauty and splendour any 
garden plant I know, with its brilliant scarlet petals shot 
with the richest purple and its handsome white tassel 
of stamens. Another beautiful flower is the large white 
night-flowering Cereus ; and if brought, when just about to 
bloom, into the hall or sitting-room, its delicious perfume 
pervades the whole house for twenty-four hours, if not for 
longer. Although Cactuses are very easy to cultivate, yet 
what they require they must have, or they do not flower 
at all, and then gardeners throw them away. Wholesome 
neglect is better than too much misdirected care ; they 



122 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

want to be kept very dry, and not too warm all through 
the winter, but quite free from frost. In April they are 
re-potted, if they seem to require it ; but that is seldom. 
Once started into growth, they want heat, light, sun, a 
little nourishment, and plenty of watering and syringing, 
with rain-water if possible ; hard chalky water is bad for 
them. When they have done flowering, I plant them out 
in a good warm border till the middle of August. This 
does them a lot of good, and helps them very much to 
make new growth ; they should be well syringed overhead 
while growing. Anyone really interested in Cactuses will 
learn all they want to know in a little book called ' Cactus 
Culture for Amateurs,' by W. Watson. The old and long- 
neglected taste for growing Cactuses is certainly reviving, 
and some of the finest kinds can be grown with very little 
trouble or expense. Mr. Watson is Assistant Curator of 
the Eoyal Botanic Gardens at Kew, where there is a large 
collection of Cactuses. He writes as one who knows, and 
the book is full of practical instructions. 

I have a great many Stapelias, South African plants 
rather resembling miniature Cactuses in their growth, 
and requiring the same treatment. They are very curious, 
and are described in a modern book translated from the 
German, called the ' Natural History of Plants,' as belong- 
ing to a group of plants called * indoloid.' Sometimes the 
scent of these South African Stapelias resembles that of 
decomposing mammalian flesh, sometimes of rotten fish, 
&c. This, of course, attracts insects. Flowers provided 
with indoloid scents resemble animal corpses in their 
colouring, having usually livid spots, violet streaks, 
and red-brown veins on a greenish or a fawn-coloured 
background. All the same, the flowers are to me 
curious and rather beautiful, so entirely unlike anything 
else. 



JUNE 123 

This month is the time to sort out the Freesia bulbs 
that have been drying in the sun, in their pots, laid on one 
side on the shelf of the greenhouse. The largest bulbs 
are re-potted now or in July in good strong loamy soil, but 
hardly watered at all till they begin to show through the 
earth. The next-sized bulbs are potted a month later. 
When the quite small ones are put into a box to grow on 
for next year they are too small to flower. Early potting- 
up of Freesias is very important if they are to flower 
early. 

June IQth. — For anyone with a small stove or warm 
greenhouse I can thoroughly recommend the growing of 
the Gloriosa sttperha or Creeping Lily. It is a lovely 
and curious flower ; it lasts very long in water, and 
flowers continuously for two or three months. Its culti- 
vation is simple enough : buy the bulbs in April, pot them 
up in good Lily soil {see Johnson's ' Gardener's Dic- 
tionary ' for this and all other greenhouse and stove 
cultivation of plants), start them in heat, and grow them 
up wires or thin branching sticks, or anything that gives 
them support ; water them well while growing ; and as 
they begin to go off after flowering, and the leaves turn 
yellow, dry them gradually till they have quite died down. 
Then lay the pots on their sides, and keep them quite 
dry, but in a warm temperature, till you re-pot them the 
following spring. The flowers are lovely — crimson and 
yellow, with crinkled, turned-back petals, and they wedge 
so well in small flat vases. 

In the last century the disciples of Linnaeus took great 
pleasure botanically in this plant, as the pistil bends at 
nearly right angles in a most curious way, to insert its 
stigma amongst the stamens ; and it is a good illustra- 
tion of the sex of plants. It is figured in that old book 
I alluded to in March of Erasmus Darwin's, called the 



124 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

' Botanic Garden,' and in the poem named ' The Loves of 
the Plants ' it is thus spoken of : — 

Proud Gloriosa led three chosen swains, 
The blushing captives of her virgin chains, 
When Time's rude hand a bark of wrinkles spread 
Eound her weak limbs, and silver'd o'er her head ; 
Three other youths her riper years engage, 
The flatter'd victims of her wily age. 

I must acknowledge that I have watched attentively 
a great many blooms of ' proud Gloriosa,' and have 
admired her immensely, but I never could see the differ- 
ence in the length of the stamens, or that first one set of 
three and then the other set of three came to maturity. 

I consider it quite as essential for amateurs who really 
care about their gardens to grow out-of-the-way plants in 
the greenhouse and conservatory as in the garden. Why 
should only just a few easily grown and eternally repeated 
plants, everywhere the same, be alone chosen from the 
wonderful and beautiful and abundant supply that Nature 
provides us with, while many rarer sorts, with a little care 
and knowledge, are quite suitable for growing under glass ? 
A study of Veitch's or Cannell's catalogues, and looking 
up the names in Johnson's ' Gardener's Dictionary,' makes 
a selection quite easy, even if you cannot visit any of the 
first-class excellent nurseries in summer, or if you do not 
possess any of the old illustrated books. 

June 27th. — For those who live in the country, or those 
who spend the early summer months in towns and have 
their flowers sent up, no family of plants are more useful 
than the Campanulas (all described in the ' English 
Flower Garden '). Perhaps the one we could least do 
without is the beautiful C. persicifolia. It takes little 
room, is a true perennial, and divides well in the autumn. 
In light soils it flowers better if treated as a biennial and 
sown in a seed bed annually, so as to have a good supply of 



JUNE 125 

young plants eveiy year. The seed sown in June or July 
can be planted out in October and potted up the autumn 
of the second year for flowering in pots in the early 
spring in a greenhouse. They are then good strong 
plants, and several can be put in one fairly large pot. 
C. grandis is a stronger and coarser plant. It is far 
more beautiful for picking if grown in a poor soil and 
under the shade of bushes or trees. But it is hardly 
worth growing in a small garden, though it is what I call 
a friend among plants ; it gives a good deal, and requires 
so little, and looks cool and beautiful when picked and 
placed by itself in a large glass bowl filled with water. 
Its tiny rosette-like leaf-growth is also useful, attractive, 
and ornamental, especially in the autumn. It travels as 
well as the other Campanulas, only it must be picked in 
bud. The flowers expand well in water ; so do those of 
the common Canterbury Bell. 

As a summer luncheon dish this Mayonnaise soufll6 of 
crab is rather out of the common : — Slightly butter the 
lining of a souf396-case, pin a buttered band of paper 
round rather high, and season the eatable part of a crab 
with pepper, salt, oil, and vinegar ; whip some nice aspic 
jelly, and put a little in the bottom of the lining. Make 
a bed of Mayonnaise sauce on the top of the aspic, put in 
the crab, then some more chopped aspic ; it should be 
about three inches above the tin lining. Stand it in the 
ice-box till wanted. Put the lining in the case, sprinkle 
with fried breadcrumbs, and serve with a plate of chopped 
aspic jelly apart. 

A less complicated luncheon dish is as follows : — 
Take some ripe tomatoes, equal-sized ; cut a round hole 
and scoop out a portion of the middle, fill in with cold 
minced chicken and Mayonnaise sauce, put some aspic in 
the dish, and serve the tomatoes, on round pieces of fried 
bread, cold. 



126 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

The following fresh chutney is good with any roast 
or cold meat : — Equal parts of cucumber, onion, and 
sultanas chopped very fine, some salt and cayenne. 
Moisten with vinegar, and press for two hours. It will 
keep some time : when wanted for use, warm in a little 
gravy and let it get cold. 

A very much prettier way than the usual English one 
of serving cauliflower is to break it up in pieces large 
enough for one helping ; boil them very lightly, so that 
they should be quite firm and dry, almost crisp. It 
quite spoils them if they are soft and sodden. Serve apart, 
in a good-sized boat, some white creamy sauce into which 
you grate a little Parmesan cheese. 

Small pieces of cauliflower put into clear soup, and 
Parmesan cheese handed apart, is a good way of using up 
cauliflowers that are just beginning to run to seed. 

Young onions boiled in clear soup give it an unusual 
and gelatinous consistency. 

Eaw sliced cucumber is. quite a different dish if cut 
very thin and soaked in salt and water for two or three 
hours before it is wanted. It is then drained and pressed, 
and served with oil, vinegar, and pepper, in the usual 
way. 

There are several ways of cooking cucumbers ; I 
suggest the following : — Peel and cut up a cucumber into 
pieces about two inches long, and divide each piece into 
two. Soak them for two or three hours in brown sugar 
and vinegar. Stew them in a little stock, and serve them 
as a vegetable. 

Another way is to stew these pieces in a little butter. 
Make the sauce apart by boiling the peel in a little milk 
and butter, rub it through a fine sieve, mix in a little 
yelk of egg and pour over the pieces. 

A third way is to take a large old cucumber, peel it, 
cut off the two ends, and boil it very lightly. When done, 



JUNE 127 

make an incision down the middle, not quite to the two 
ends. Scoop out the seeds, and fill in the hollow with a 
light stuffing of suet, herbs, breadcrumbs, and egg. Serve 
it whole, like a rolly-poly pudding, with a yellow Dutch 
sauce round it. 

I find, all through the year, that a compote is a much 
more popular way of cooking fruit than in a tart. The 
great secret of making compotes is to stew some fruits, 
and only to pour boiling syrup over others. For instance, 
Eed Currants are not good unless stewed for some time in 
an earthenware dish in the oven. Easpberries are quite 
spoilt by this treatment. 



128 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



JULY 

The Welsh Poppy —Astrantias —Old Green Peas -Red Currants— The 
Madonna Lily, L^^pt^e de la Vierge— The value of the reserve 
garden — An English summer's day — Light soils and dry summers 

Other people's gardens — Notebooks — Sunny lawns — Dutch 

gardens — Fountains and water -tanks — Lobelia cardinalis — 
Watering out of doors— Two hardy shrubs. 

July 6th. — One of the prettiest weeds that we have in 
our modern gardens, and which alternates between being 
our greatest joy and our greatest torment, is the Welsh 
Poppy. It succeeds so well in this dry soil that it sows 
itself everywhere ; but when it stands up, with its pro- 
fusion of yellow flowers well above its bed of bright 
gveen leaves, in some fortunate situation where it can not 
only be spared, but encouraged and admired, it is a real 
pleasure. It is not a Poppy at all, but a Meconopsis. It 
is quite easy to distinguish between the two, once having 
grasped the fact that the seed-vessels of the entire Poppy 
tribe are flat on the top, whereas the seed-vessels of the 
Meconopsis are pointed. There are several varieties of 
Meconopsis, all very desirable, and to be found, as usual, 
well described in the 'English Flower Garden.' 

Their cultivation is a little more difiicult than that of 
the ordinary annual and biennial, so one hardly ever sees 
them anywhere, but they are well worth the little extra 
trouble. Among the many small plants of easy cultiva- 
tion and persistent flowering, Astrantias are very useful, 
especially in light soils, where things flower and are over 



JULY 129 

so quickly. There are several shades ; I have a pink 
and a green. They have a most refined beauty of their 
own, and last well in water. They are best grown from 
seed, and are well worth every care. Any soil will suit 
them, and they will grow in half-shade or full sun. 

Some dry summers Green Peas do very badly with 
us ; they dry up so quickly. We all know the hesitating 
remark to the cook : ' The Peas were not so good last 
night.' ' No, m'm, they are getting old.' When they 
do get old, the following is an original French receipt for 
stewed Peas, which is very good indeed: — Put the Peas 
into a saucepan with a good-sized Cabbage Lettuce cut up, 
a white Onion, a sprig of Parsley, four ounces of butter 
kneaded with flour ; put the butter in small lumps on the 
Peas, also a very little salt and a piece of white sugar. 
Cover the saucepan, and let it simmer slowly for about 
three-quarters of an hour. 

Currants ripen very early with us. It is a good plan, 
in order to keep them for eating when other fruit is not 
so plentiful, to tie the whole bush up in coarse muslin 
just as the Currants are getting ripe. This protects them 
from birds and from insects, and they hang well on into 
September, and are perfectly good. Black Currants will 
not stand the same treatment. 

The following is a good receipt for Eed Currant jelly, 
one of the preserves best worth making at home : — 
Gather the Currants on a dry day. Strip them off their 
stalks, and squeeze the juice through a cloth. Leave the 
juice to stand in the cellar for twenty-four hours ; then 
pour it into another cloth, carefully leaving the thick 
sediment behind. For each pound of juice allow one 
pound of powdered white sugar (not bought ready 
pounded, but done at home). Put the juice on the fire 
in the preserving-pan, and keep stirring it from the first 
with a silver spoon, adding the sugar, which should 

K 



I30 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

be standing close by, in spoonfuls. When the sugar 
is all added and dissolved, it will be necessary to 
take off the rising scum with a flat sieve-spoon, very 
well scalded and cleaned previously; and by placing 
a little jelly on a saucer it will be seen by the consistency 
when it has jellied. As soon as there is a sign of this 
take the pan off the fire, let it stand five or ten minutes, 
and fill the jelly glasses, which should previously have 
been well sulphured, and be standing ready face down- 
wards. Next day they should be covered with rounds of 
paper soaked in brandy. Half a teaspoonful of brandy 
should be sprinkled over each glass, and then they should 
be tied or gummed up in the usual way. 

Jtily 8th. — I consider no trouble too great, whether the 
garden be large or small, to grow the beautiful stately 
Madonna Lily {Lilium candidum). It requires very 
different treatment from other Lilies, and flourishes in 
rich, heavy soils in full sun, where many Lilies would 
fail. Gardening books often tell you it is fatal to move 
these Lilies, but I think this has arisen from gardeners 
moving or disturbing them when they have ' done ' their 
borders in October or November, and when the Lilies have 
made an autumn growth ; moving them then is fatal. 
When I used to leave them alone, they made an excellent 
top growth in spring, but dried up and died down 
without flowering. What I now do when they begin to 
die down some time this month, whether they have 
flowered or not, is to dig them up carefully with a fork, 
remove all offsets, re-make and manure the ground well, 
mixing with it some brick rubbish or chalk, and then 
replace the large bulbs, planting them rather deep, and 
not too close together. In this way every bulb flowers. 
A little liquid manure helps them to open well when they 
are in bud the following June. The small offsets are 
put into a nursery apart, and many of them will flower 



JULY 131 

the following year in a way that does admirably for 
picking. 

A few years ago I brought from Paris some bulbs of 
Ornithogalum i^yramidale, the flower-spikes of which are 
sold at the end of June in the Paris flower market under 
the name of L'eiJee de la Vierge. I have never seen the 
plant gi-own anywhere in England as I have grown it, 
and yet in every way it is quite one of the most satis- 
factory flowers for picking that I know. If you gather it 
just as one flower is coming out, the whole of the long 
spike grows and flowers in water up to the very top, 
bending and curling about, and assuming the most 
graceful curves. No one can grow a better flower plant 
to send to London. It has one fault in the garden — the 
leaves droop and turn rather spotty and yellow before the 
flower comes quite to its prime ; but this defect can 
indeed be forgiven for the sake of its many merits. I 
cultivate it nearly as I do the above-mentioned Lilies ; 
only, when the bulbs are dug up, we place the small ones 
at once in a nursery, but the large ones are well dried in 
the sun and not replanted till October. A mulching 
when they begin to show through in the spring does 
them good. Mr. Barr sells the bulbs, but I cannot say if 
his are as fine as those I brought from Paris six or seven 
years ago. I know no summer-flowering shrub so beauti- 
ful as the Hydrangea panictilata grandiflora. I have 
tried over and over again to grow it, but it does badly 
and then dies. It is not the soil only, for I once saw a 
magnificent specimen growing under a wall at Ascot, 
where the soil is the same as ours. I suppose it never 
has had quite a good enough place. It should be cut 
back hard every spring, and, when growing freely, wants 
much watering ; I am told that constant applications of 
soot-water do it good. I daresay I shall succeed in 
time. 

k2 



132 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

July 10th. — This is about the time we move our things 
from the reserve garden, spoken of before, and from the 
late-sown seed beds, and plant into the borders and 
square beds those amiable autumn annuals that do 
not seem to mind moving at all, such as French Mari- 
golds, Tagetes, Everlastings, Scabious, &c. The Phloxes, 
Michaelmas Daisies, and early low-growing Chrysanthe- 
mums, grown in the reserve garden, move just as w^ell in 
warm, dry weather as in wet, only, of course, they must 
be well and continuously watered till the weather 
changes and they have taken hold. The large Scdum 
spectabile, so loved by the bees in September, also moves 
perfectly in the same way, and, in a large mass, makes 
a very handsome autumn plant. I am sure that the 
system of reserve garden and moving plants and seed- 
lings in July can be extended and experimented upon to 
almost any extent. Next year I must try it with the 
Veronica spicata — white, blue, and pink. They are very 
pretty things when flowering well and healthily, and 
they come into bloom at a time of year when herbaceous 
plants are scarce. Campanula turhinata, blue and white, 
are useful for the same reason. 

Alstroemerias do very well on dry, light soil ; they 
want mulching in spring, but are no trouble at all when 
once established. A. aurantiaca is the easiest to grow, 
but A. chilensis is the most beautiful. The seeds of the 
best flowers are worth keeping and sowing, to improve 
the colour and size of the flowers. The white one I have 
not yet succeeded in making gi'ow from seeds, but I saw 
it at the Horticultural Show, and it was most beautiful 
and delicate. I find that buying the bulbous rootlets 
dried is no use at all, they do not grow. They do not 
mind moving in August after flowering, and they are 
best increased as Lilies of the Valley are — by digging out 
square pieces, filling in with good soil and dropping in 



JULY 133 

the pieces cut out where they are wanted somewhere 
else without disturbing the earth that cHngs to them. 
If you ever try to force your own Lihes of the Valley, 
pick out the best crowns, but never put them into the 
greenhouse till frost has been on them, and never mulch 
outdoor Lilies of the Valley before March, and then only 
with leaf mould. As Lilies are an early spring flower, 
you will find they do better under a wall facing east than 
anywhere else. 

July 14:th. — How beautiful are the really hot, lovely 
English summer's days. They come sometimes, and they 
are exquisite ; nothing beats them. Why, oh ! why, can 
I never enjoy such things without that tinge of sadness 
which moderns call morbidness ? It does no good, but 
I think of someone who is ill, or of those masses and 
masses of people in that di'eary great city so close. As I 
enjoy my garden alone, with the beauty and the flowers, 
the flood of summer light and the intense pleasure of it, 
I long to do something, and longing generally resolves 
itself into picking flowers for somebody. This little 
poem by Paul Verlaine seems to give the colour of it all, 
and the pain : — 

LA VIE 

Le del est par-dessus le toit, 

Si bleu, si calme ! 
Un arbre par-dessus le toit 

Berce sa palme. 

La cloche dans le ciel qu'on voit 

Doucement tinte, 
Un oiseau sur I'arbre qu'on voit 

Chante sa plaints. 

Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, la vie est la, 

Simple et tranquille ; 
Cette paisible rumeur-la 

Vient de la ville. 



134 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Qu'as-tu fait, O toi que voila, 

Pleurant sans cesse — 
Dis, qu'as-tu fait, toi que voila, 

De ta jeunesse ? 

July 15th. — July is a very busy month in all gardens. 
The borders must be cleared and replanted, the seeds 
of perennials have to be gathered and sown, and many 
other things require attention. The Delphiniums may 
bravely be cut down after flowering; it does them no 
harm, and they often break again and have stray 
flowering sprays in the autumn. Some of the best seed 
should be sown every year. The same with the Ver- 
bascums ; if cut down, they flower again, in rather a 
different way, but very charmingly, in the autumn. July 
is also the great time for sowing perennials, or perennials 
that are treated as biennials ; and when you have fine 
flowers or good colours, it is quite worth while to mark 
the flowers by tying a piece of bass or coloured wool 
round the stalk. These little white ties are recognised 
and respected by the gardeners while clearing the 
borders, a work which it is essential to do in July. 
I sow a great many things every year, and find them 
most useful- -Gaillardias, Coreopsis lanceolata, Snap- 
dragons (Antirrhinums). Oh, how useful and beautiful 
are the tall yellow and the tall white Snapdragons ! 
They can be played with in so many ways : potted up in 
the autumn, grown and flowered in a gi'eenhouse, cut 
back and planted out in the spring to flower again, 
admirable to send away ; in fact, they have endless 
merits, and in a large clump in front of some dark 
corner or shrub they look very handsome indeed. They 
are lovely picked and on the dinner-table, especially the 
yellow Snapdragons, but, like many other things, they 
just want a little care and cultivation, which they often 
do not get ; and they ought to be sown every April, and 



JULY 135 

again in July. The smaller the garden, the more 
essential are these plants for people who like having 
flovv'ers to pick ; but I warn everyone against those 
terrible inventions of seedsmen, the Dwarf Antirrhinums ; 
they have all the attributes of a dwarf, and are impish 
and ugly. The flower is far too large for the stalk, and 
they ai-e, to my mind, entirely without merit. July is 
the time I take up both the English and the Spanish 
Irises, which makes them do ever so much better. The 
English Irises are best planted again at once, only taking 
off the small bulbs. The Spanish Irises are best dried in 
the sun and replanted in September. In both cases the 
small bulbs are planted in rows in the kitchen garden ; 
they take up little room, and in this way the stock is 
increased. In our soil, unless treated in this way, they 
dwindle, cease flowering, and ultimately disappear. I 
lost many from not knowing this in my early gardening 
days, when I was certainly green in judgment. The 
Spanish Iris likes a dry place in full sun ; the English 
Iris does best in half-shade, and likes moisture if it can 
get it, but flowers well without; the leaves are what 
suffer most from dryness — long, succulent, moisture- 
loving things that they are. 

July nth. — "We have had a most unusually hot dry 
summer, and to go into the garden is absolute pain to me, 
for all the trouble and labour of the year seem more or 
less wasted. Plants are miserably forced into bloom, to 
go off almost immediately ; and it is little consolation to 
know a week's rain will make many plants beautiful 
again, for the especial beauty of early summer is over. 
July and August are always trying months here. The 
soil is so very light, and one must pay the penalty ; 
even the heavy soils, I am told, are suffering much 
this year. 

One ought, too, to study with great interest and take 



136 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

note of what survives, and even does better in these 
very dry years. That handsome, rather coarse-growing 
perennial, Buphthalmum cordifolmm, now called Telekia 
speciosa — as if one such name were not enough for a 
stout-growing composite — looked shrivelled and unhappy 
last month, but it has flowered better than usual, and it 
is a handsome plant. The pretty feathery Gypsophila 
paniculata never suffers from dryness, it has such a 
splendid big tap-root. The Gaillardias, moved from the 
seed bed in spring, have done very well in full sun. 

The Coreopsis graiidiflora blazes in the sunlight. I 
save a little seed from the largest flowers of both of 
these, and sow them every year, so as to have a 
continual supply of young plants. It is not to avoid 
buying fresh seeds that I mark the best flowers of some, 
but because by this means, and by saving only from the 
best flowers, I get really better plants. 

My Carnations are much less good than usual this 
year, but I cannot blame the weather for this. I stupidly 
foUow^ed the advice in some of the gardening papers last 
year of leaving the layers on the old plants till April. I 
shall never do so again ; here it does not answer at all ; 
but I shall layer them as early as possible, take them off 
in October, and make up the bed then. It is a very good 
plan to plant a row of young Carnation plants in the 
kitchen garden, some distance apart, so that they may be 
layered earlier than in the beds. 

July 25th. — Not the least dehghtful part, in my opinion, 
of the growing knowledge of gardening is the appreciative 
visiting of the gardens of others. On first going into a 
garden one knows hj instinct, as a hound scents the fox, 
if it is going to be interesting or not. One's eyes are 
sharp, and a joyful glow of satisfaction comes over one 
on seeing something not by any means necessarily new, 
but unknown to oneself. When looking through old 



JULY 137 

books or modern catalogues, one feels one has nothing in 
one's garden, but I must confess that visiting other 
people's gardens very often makes me feel I really have 
a very fair collection. A notebook is a most important 
companion on gardening expeditions. I use metallic 
paper, to ensure a permanent record, and an ordinary 
pencil. I write the date and name of the place, then jot 
down the names of plants and general observations. I 
have also kept a kind of gardening journal for many 
years, making notes three or four times in the month, 
and on the opposite page I keep lists of any plants I buy 
or bring home from friends, with the date ; noting the 
deaths the following year is instructive. I have lately 
had a rain-gauge given me. This is a great interest and 
amusement, especially where rain-water is always in 
demand and often running short. I did not know the 
importance of rain-water when first we came to live 
here ; and though we have lots of roofing, we are not 
sufficiently provided with underground tanks. Our small 
ones are supplemented now as much as possible by 
petroleum barrels sunk into the ground, and the water- 
shoot from the roof allowed to pour into them. You can 
connect this first barrel with others by a little piece of 
lead piping, and so increase the storage. 

For those who have not got very good memories for 
the names of plants, I strongly recommend them, if they 
can draw, to make a little coloured sketch, however small, 
on the page of a gardening book next the name of the 
plant. This will be found a great help to the memory ; 
I began gardening so late in life that I had to get all the 
help I could. I have lately been visiting what I call 
intelligent gardens, and will make a few remarks about 
them. In one place where Eoses grow well I saw a 
beautiful specimen of La Marque Eose — one of the most 
satisfactory Eoses for a wall. Everyone ought to try and 



138 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

grow it who has room and a fairly good Eose soil. The 
long flowering branches were cut a yard or more in length. 
At the end of each branch was a beautiful bunch of pure, 
cream-white Eoses, seven or eight in number, with buds 
in between, and pale, healthy, green leaves down the 
stem. Two such branches in a narrow-necked vase, 
bronze or blue or dark green, are an ornament to which 
nothing can be added for any room, be it in a cottage or a 
palace. As a decoration for a large dinner-table, nothing 
can be better than these Eoses when they are in their 
prime, which, unfortunately, is but for a very short time. 

In the old days of bedding-out, Idwns used to be cut 
up into beds and patterns. Now the fashion has changed, 
and bedding-out has become so generally condemned that 
most people have levelled and turfed-over the rounds, 
stars, crescents, and oblongs that used to enliven their 
lawns for a short time, at any rate, every autumn. As a 
result of this reaction, there are now an immense number 
of large, dull lawns, which as a rule slope slightly away 
from the house, and often to the south. They are wet in 
rain, and dry and brown in hot weather. They 
have their weekly shave with the mowing-machine, and 
lie baking in the sunshine. The poor plants, which would 
flower and do well in the open, are planted at the edges 
of the shrubberies, where — in a light soil, at any rate — 
they are robbed and starved into ugliness and failure by 
their stronger neighbours. 

There are several ways of breaking up lawns. One is 
by turning the lawns into grass paths, along which the 
machine runs easily, and making all the rest into open, 
informally shaped beds. These can be planted in every 
kind of way — in bold masses of one thing alone, or at 
most in mixtures of two, such as Eoses and Violas ; 
Azaleas and Lilies ; Carnations and more Violas, or mossy 
Saxifrages ; Campanulas in succession, tall and low- 



JULY 139 

growing ; a bold group of Bamboos and Bocconia cordata ; 
or simply with a selection of a few low-growing shrubs ; 
and so on ad infinitum. Another way, and one that finds 
small favour with gardeners, and with considerable reason, 
because of the trouble of turning the mowing-machine 
round the plants, is to break up the lawn with sunshine- 
loving specimen plants — Mulberries, Savins, Sumachs, 
clumps of creeping Ayrshire Eoses and Honeysuckles, 
poles covered with claret-coloured Vines, Clematis, &c. 
Yet another way is to have a double pergola running all 
round the lawn in a square, or only down both sides, 
wnth a grass path, broad and stately, underneath the 
pergola. This can be made of stone or brick, oak-trees 
or fir-poles ; or, if wanted very light, of Japanese large 
Bamboos — to be got now in London, I believe. These 
Bamboos look best if two, three, or five are blocked to- 
gether unequally, with different-sized openings in between, 
and used as supports for fruit-trees and flowering shrubs 
of all kinds. As these plants grow, bamboos and wires 
have to be put across the top to support the creepers. In 
the middle is a large square of grass ; the openings are 
left turfed, but where the supports are put into the ground 
a narrow bed must be made for the plants. This enables 
them to be manured, chalked, watered, and generally 
cared for. I now come to w^hat is, in my idea, by far the 
most enchanting plan for breaking up a lawn, which is to 
sink a small Dutch garden in the middle of it. The 
size of the Dutch garden must, of course, be in proportion 
to that of the lawn. If the proportion cannot be kept, it 
would be better to leave it alone. It should have a red- 
brick wall all round it, and be oblong or square, as suits 
the situation. The entrances to it are by brick steps, one 
in the middle of each of the four sides. The height of 
the wall is about three feet from the ground on the outside, 
and five feet on the inside. Along these walls, on the 



I40 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

inside, are rather wide beds, bordered by paths made of 
rows of large, square red tiles, laid flat and not quite join- 
ing, so that tiny alpines and mosses may grow in between 
them at their own sweet will. If preferred, this narrow 
path can be made of bricks or broken paving-stones. The 
object of this path, besides the convenience of standing 
dry to pick the flowers or weed the beds, is that the front 
of the bed can be planted in groups, not in rows, 
with all sorts of low-growing things : — Alyssums, 
Aubrietias, Forget-me-nots, Pinks of all kinds. Saxi- 
frages, and mosses. On the side shaded by the wall 
and facing north small ferns. Campanulas, and shade- 
loving plants are the only ones that will do well. Prim- 
roses, Auriculas, and the spring-flowering bulbs and Irises 
do best on the side facing east ; and the summer and 
autumn plants like to face west and north, as they weary 
of the hot sun all the summer through. All the year 
round this little garden can be kept a pleasure and a joy 
by a little management, and by planting and replanting 
from the greenhouse, the seed-beds, or the reserve garden. 
The wall looks best if entirely planted with Tea-roses. 
As they grow, they send up long waving branches, which 
beautifully break the hard line of the wall. The middle 
of the walled garden is grass, and the mowing machine 
can never cut or injure the plants, feather forward as they 
will on to the tiled path between the beds and the grass. 
In the centre there can bo a sundial on a square base ; 
or, if you have water laid on, a small square or oblong 
cement tank let into the ground, quite level with the 
grass, as a fountain and to be handy for watering. All 
day long the water in the tank is warmed by the sunshine. 
This kind of fountain is an enormous improvement, I 
think, to small suburban gardens, and it is prettier oblong 
than square. The fountain must be made of cement and 
six or eight feet deep. If the garden slopes at all, the 



JULY 141 

overflow from the fountain can be guided by small 
watercourses on to different beds. I have pockets of 
cement made at irregular intervals at the edges of the 
fountain to hold water-plants and such things, which then 
appear reflected on the surface of the water, not as they 
grow against a dark shrub or a group of Italian Canes of 
Bamboos, but against the blue sky above them — an end- 
less pleasure to those who notice such things. A piece 
of water, however small, and the sound of water falling 
from a small fountain, or even from a raised tap if the 
tank is near a wall, is such an added enjoyment to life on 
a hot summer's day, not to mention the infinite superiority 
for watering of having water that has been exposed to the 
sun and air. If not artificially fed, gold-fish live and 
breed healthily in these tanks. 

Water-plants, such as the Sweet-smelling Rush, the 
flowering Rush Butomus umhellatus, the Water-lily, the 
Cape pond-weed Aponogetou, can all be grown in tanks 
if the plants are planted in baskets or hampers, not pots, 
and let down to the bottom. They give food for the fish, 
and keep them healthy ; a tank also serves as a dip for 
swallows on the wing, and as a breeding-place for the 
beautiful blue dragon-fly. 

To go back to the Dutch garden. I think at the 
corners of, or on each side of, the entrances there may be 
pots with plants in them, or balls of stone, or anything 
else in character with the rest of the stone or brick work, 
which should be formal and slightly constrained in design, 
as I consider all brickwork in a garden close to a house 
ought to be. If planted as I described, no two such 
gardens would ever be the least alike ; no law could bind 
them, and no wind destroy them. 

One of the most perfect ways of laying out a long flat 
piece of ground I have ever seen was in a garden in 
Salisbury. One long, very long, broad grass path, right 



142 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

down the middle ; wide herbaceous borders on each side, 
with low plants in front and tall ones behind ; and at the 
back of these again, on each side, was the kitchen garden 
— Gooseberries, Currants, and Easpberries, and in between 
all the usual kitchen-garden vegetables ; beyond that was 
a small cinder-path, and then a wall on either side, shutting 
off the neighbours. One wall faced nearly north and the 
other nearly south. The long garden, stretching from the 
house eastward and westward, was ended by the river ; 
the tall spires of the cathedral towered behind the house. 
I have often thought that the same disposition of an 
oblong piece of ground would turn a depressing 
laurel-planted suburban garden into a thing of joy and 
beauty, even without the cathedral towers and the swift, 
clear, running river. 

One of the most beautiful of late summer plants — I 
see my friends often fail with it — is the Lobelia cardinalis 
and L. fulgens, Queen Victoria. It is generally injured by 
kindness, sown in the early spring, drawn up in green- 
houses, and planted out weak and straggling, when it does 
nothing. It is a North American bog-plant, where it lies 
frost-bound for months, so it is not cold that kills it ; 
but it likes a long rest. I generally take up my old plants 
and keep them very dry in a box in a frame, planting them 
out at the end of March or early in April, before they 
begin to grow a.t all. It is letting them grow on in the 
boxes that brings the disease and rust. Every year we 
sow a small patch of both kinds out of doors in June or 
July, and these young plants survive the winter perfectly. 
Dear youth ! What a power it is to those that have it, 
even among plants ! In spring these plants are put where 
they are wanted to flower. If they are in a dry place, I 
am bound to say they require plenty of water when once 
they really begin to grow. They look very well in autumn 
growing out of a fine spreading base of Mrs. Sinkins 



JULY 143 

Piuk, which must be divided in the autumn, leaving 
spaces for the planting of the Lobelia in spring. 

This is the time \Yhen the plants before named, which 
were put into the reserve garden in the spring — early 
Chrysanthemums, Phloxes, Michaelmas Daisies — are 
brought to fill up bare places in the border. If the borders 
have been planted as before advised, the colours must be 
arranged according to the several groups. Two plants of 
the Daisy tribe — one blue-violet with a yellow middle, 
called Erigeron speciostis ; the other a bright yellow, though 
some are paler than others, called Anthemis tinctoria — are 
invaluable in dry borders. They grow easily from seed, 
and are very amiable about being moved. 

Jidy 21 til. — Watering outdoor plants not in pots or 
tubs is a question about which people differ much. 
Gardeners as a rule are against it, and it certainly kills 
perennial plants and small shrubs if begun and left off, or 
even if improperly done. But in a dr}^ soil many a plant 
is saved by watering it thoroughly once or twice a week, 
more especially if the flower-buds are formed. My 
experience is that under those circumstances watering 
hurts nothing, but it has a tendency to draw the roots to 
the surface, which is very undesirable with perennials, 
both for heat in summer and cold in winter. With any 
precious plant newly planted, and which looks thirsty, a 
very good and safe plan is to sink a flower-pot in the 
ground, just above the plant if the ground slopes at all. 
Fill this with water, and let it soak gradually away, to the 
cooling and refreshing of the roots. After the plant has 
been well soaked, one filling of the pot a day, in the 
morning, is sufficient. All plants that have been planted 
out, after being removed from a reserve garden or seed 
bed, must be watered ; and once you begin, whether in 
kitchen or flower garden, you must go on till it rains 
steadily and well ; a slight shower is no good. 



144 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

A very good shading protection for small plants or 
delicate seedlings is to get the village blacksmith to make 
you some flower-pots — he will understand that — in per- 
forated zinc such as would be used for larder windows, &c. 
Eeverse one of these over the plant, to protect it from 
sun and wind. 

The mention of blacksmith reminds me that the 
parings and raspings of horses' hoofs, which can be 
purchased for very little, put into a tub of water and 
allowed to decompose, make a very excellent and 
nourishing liquid manure. It should not be applied too 
strong. 

July 30th. — Two shrubs are now flowering in the 
garden which in this month of the year are valuable. 
One is called Clethra (Sweet Pepper Bush), mentioned in 
May for pot-cultivation, and useful, as it stands pulling 
about and changing ; it is quite hardy, but in dry places 
it is the better for watering when coming into flower. 
The other is called Pavia or ^sctdus parvifolia (Dwarf 
Horse Chestnut), a handsome and valuable hardy tree 
from North America. It does not grow fast, and takes 
little room ; it has long spikes of flowers with bright 
pink stamens, is refined and sweet, and very pretty when 
gathered and wedged {see Appendix), though it would not 
look well in a room in any other way. I have had it 
several years, and it flowers every year ; its handsome 
and yet restrained growth is a great advantage in a small 
garden. 



MS 



AUGUST 

Gilbert White — The decline of vegetable culture in the Middle 
Ages — Preserving French Beans and Scarlet Eunners — Scotch 
gardens — Tropceolum speciosum — Crimson-berried Elder — The 
coast of Sutherlandshire— The abuse of coarse Creepers. 

August Ist. — I cannot allow a summer to go by without 
referring to that dear old classic, Gilbert White's ' Natural 
History of Selborne.' Even now I do not quite know 
why I am so fond of these letters, except that they show 
strongly the observant eye and the genuine love of Nature 
which are so sympathetic to me. When I was young 
my mother gave me the book to read, and it bored me 
considerably. I thought the long speculations about 
the hibernating of birds — Swifts, Swallows, and others— 
so tiresome ; especially as I knew for sure that they 
migrated. I, almost a child, knew that. In those days I 
just panted for what was coming ; the saying ' old days ' 
to me meant the present, which was older than the past 
and growing each day, as I grew myself, to greater 
maturity, I did not understand what people meant by 
referring to the days which were behind as ' the old days,' 
for they represented to me the youth of time. I longed 
to live the day after to-morrow before it came, if only that 
were possible. Everything new interested me ; I thought 
the world was moving so fast ; and now that my life is 
nearly over, it is as if nothing had happened. Progress 
is indeed like the old Greek pattern, a continuous un- 
broken line, but curling back and inwards for long periods 

L 



146 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

before it starts a new development. Just now even the 
enthusiastic and the young are trying to live in the past— 
a whole generation conservative in its youth. I suppose 
it is all right, but it seems to lack the generous impulses 
of the generation nourished on the teachings of Mill and 
Bright. How true it is that Liberalism is not a principle, 
but an attitude of mind ! And the old Greek pattern will 
start its long line forward again some day. 

Now that hope is over for me, the old times, with 
heir edifying lessons, interest me most ; and so I try to 
understand the evolution of the present as taught through 
knowledge of the past, rather than breathlessly to grasp 
the future. My mother was so kind and sensible with 
me. So many parents are apt to be irritated by 
daughters who bound forward in life as children pick 
flowers in a field, always thinking there are many more 
and much finer ones just a little further on. 

Though it is now little over a hundred years since 
Gilbert White died, his pictures of the change within his 
memory in the general condition of the poor, and of the 
improvement in agriculture, gardens and health, seem 
most strange. Leprosy still existed in Selborne, though 
it was much on the decline. He attributes this partly to 
improved food and partly to wearing clean linen instead 
of dirty woollen garments. As to the produce of a 
garden, he adds, * Every middle-aged person of observa- 
tion may perceive, within his own memory, both in town 
and country, how vastly the consumption of vegetables 
is increased. Green stalls in cities now support multi- 
tudes in a comfortable state, while gardeners get 
fortunes. Potatoes have prevailed in this district, by 
means of premiums, within these twenty years only, and 
are much esteemed here now by the poor, who would 
scarce have ventured to taste them in the last reign. 

' Our Saxon ancestors certainly had some sort of Cab- 



AUGUST 147 

bage, because they call the month of February " Sprout- 
cale " ; but long after their days the cultivation of gardens 
was little attended to. The religious, being men of 
leisure, and keeping up a constant correspondence with 
Italy, were the first people among us who had gardens and 
fruit trees in any perfection, within the walls of their abbeys 
and priories. The barons neglected every pursuit that 
did not lead to war or tend to the pleasure of the chase.' 

It seems to me from this exceedingly probable that 
gardens declined very much in England after the Eefor- 
mation, and no doubt the eating of vegetables, like the 
eating of fish, may have been considered Popish. Even 
in my childhood I can remember that salad was rarely 
seen at any but the tables of the very wealthy, who had 
foreign cooks, and then it was covered with a rich cream 
sauce, full of mustard, which was supposed to make it 
digestible. This superstition of the day was pointedly 
brought forward in some letters I found of my grand- 
mother's to my father at Oxford, strongly recommending 
him to take mustard-seeds before his meals as very 
helpful to digestion. 

I am far from suggesting that the Eeformation had, 
on the whole, an injurious effect on England, but 
indirectly in many ways it seems to have led to curious 
and even pernicious results. Among the most peculiar 
of these was the increase of piracy in Elizabeth's reign. 
The following account, given in Froude's * English Seamen 
in the Sixteenth Century,' will explain what I mean : — ' In 
harbour there were still a score of large ships, but they 
were dismantled and rotting ; of artillery fit for sea work 
there was none. The men were not to be had, and, as 
Sir William Cecil said, to fit out ships without men was 
to set armour on stakes on the seashore. The mariners 
of England were otherwise engaged and in a way that 
did not please Cecil. He was the ablest Minister that 

l2 



148 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Elizabeth had. He saw at once that on the Navy the 
prosperity and even the Hberty of England must even- 
tually depend. If England were to remain Protestant, it 
was not by Articles of religion or Acts of Uniformity that 
she could be saved, without a fleet at the back of them. 
But he was old-fashioned. He believed in law and order, 
and he has left a curious paper of reflections on the 
situation. The ships' companies in Henry VIII. 's days 
were recruited from the fishing smacks, but the Eefor- 
mation ito-elf had destroyed the fishing trade. In old 
times, Cecil said, no flesh was eaten on fish days. The 
King himself could not have license. Now to eat beef or 
mutton on fish days was the test of a true believer. . . . 
The fishermen had taken to privateering because the fasts 
of the Church were neglected. He saw it was so. He 
recorded his own opinion that piracy, as he called it, was 
detestable, and could not last. He was to find that it 
could last, that it was to form the special discipline of 
the generation whose business it would be to fight the 
Spaniards. But he struggled hard against the unwelcome 
conclusion. He tried to revive lawful trade by a Navi- 
gation Act. He tried to restore the fisheries by Act of 
Parliament. He introduced a Bill recommending godly 
abstinence as a means to virtue, making the eating of 
meat on Fridays and Saturdays a misdemeanour, and 
adding Wednesday as a half fish day. The House of 
Commons laughed at him as bringing back Popish 
mummeries. To please the Protestants he inserted a 
clause that the statute was politically meant for the 
increase of fishermen and mariners, not for any super- 
stition in the choice of meats ; but it was no use. The 
Act was called in mockery " Cecil's Past," and the recovery 
of the fisheries had to wait till the natural inclination of 
human stomachs for fresh whiting and salt cod should 
revive in itself.' 



AUGUST 149 

I have made this long extract because it seems to me 
to throw an exceedingly interesting side-light on the non- 
cultivation, and above all on the bad cooking, of vege- 
tables, which extended to a great degree into my child- 
hood. Even to-day, in spite of the increased quantity of 
vegetables and then' comparative cheapness, it is rare to 
see them in any variety in English family life ; and I 
am told that at ordinary clubs Potatoes and Brussels 
Sprouts represent in winter the vegetable kingdom. 
What is still more remarkable is that the absence of 
vegetables has now extended to all the principal foreign 
hotels, with the probable notion of suiting the English 
taste. 

In the early Protestant days meat was no doubt eaten 
with a religious zeal, and the cultivation and cooking of 
vegetables was utterly neglected. The old gardens of the 
monasteries ran to ruin even quicker than the fish-ponds. 
It became a point of national honour to disregard the 
methods of cooking vegetables which had been brought 
by the monks, who were men of taste, from France and 
Italy. Proper cooking alone makes ordinary vegetables 
palatable, and improves even the very best. The extra- 
ordinary development of the vegetable, fruit, and flower 
trade is one of the most marked changes of my lifetime. 
When I was young, it was impossible in the West End of 
London to buy any flowers at all in the streets or shops. 
If we did not winter in the South of France, but remained 
in London, we had to go to some nursery gardens that 
lay between Eutland Gate and Kensington in order to 
buy a few Violets. 

Fi'oude says, about another strange effect of the Ee- 
formation, ' It probably, more than any other cause, 
stopped the development of painting in England. Holbein 
had no pupils. Zuccaro left the country in disgust. All 
portraits that remain were painted by foreigners.' The 



150 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

worst kings from the political point of view have been 
the best from that of painting. Charles I. was no excep- 
tion to the rule, and his magnificent gallery was sold 
by Parliament in 1645 for 38,000Z., apparently without 
protest. 

Of all the months in the year, this is perhaps the one 
in which the keenest amateur can best afford to leave 
home ; and if I do not go away, it is the one I can best 
spare to my gardener for his holiday. In August hope, 
as far as the year is concerned, is over. There is nothing 
that imperatively requires doing ; nearly all there is to do 
can be as well done in July or September. After deciding 
to leave home I gave instructions that the young French 
Beans and Scarlet Eunners should be picked over, almost 
daily, so that none should grow coarse and old ; and that 
the cook should lay them separately, as they were brought 
in, in large earthenware pans — a handful of Beans and 
then a handful of salt, and so on till the pan was full. 
This is an excellent method ; and I have eaten them, pre- 
served in this way, all through the winter. I believe this 
is done everywhere abroad, but never in England, where 
the waste, both in the kitchen and the garden, is, as we all 
acknowledge, a national vice. Of course the Beans in the 
salt must not be allowed to get touched by frost in the 
autumn. When wanted, they are taken out, well soaked (to 
prevent their being too salt), boiled in the ordinary way — 
cut up or whole, as we like them best — then drained, and 
warmed up in fresh butter, a squeeze of lemon and a little 
chopped Parsley on the top. They can also be cooked 
with a white cream sauce. AH this is well described for 
fresh Beans in ' Dainty Dishes.' I think these salted 
Beans have more flavour than the tinned ones, or than 
those that come from Madeira in the vnnter. Besides, 
the principle of utilising everything in a garden should 
never be lost sight of. 



AUGUST 151 

This year fate took us to the North, to Northumberland, 
the home of my maternal family, from which my mother 
in her youth, with the whole large family, travelled twice 
a year on the old North Eoad to London and back in 
carriages and coaches. One of my mother's aunts used 
to tell a story of how in her youth she had had her hair 
dressed in London to appear at a Newcastle ball, and 
she added with pride, ' When I entered the ball-room I 
had my reward.' 

I was surprised to find that the great changes that 
have come over our Southern gardens by the re-introducing 
the old-fashioned flowers and the old methods of culti- 
vating them are much less noticeable in the North. 
Apparently changes work slower in the North than 
around London. I wonder why this is ? People there 
have the same books, the same newspapers, and the same 
climatic advantage as in Scotland, which makes the 
herbaceous plants grow to great perfection, and flower 
much longer than in the South. One would have thought 
the fashion which has so influenced us would have 
influenced them. I saw in many places long borders 
planted with rows of red, violet, white, yellow, and purple 
— vistas of what used to be called ribbon-borders, very un- 
picturesque at the best, and nearly always unsatisfactory. 
Why they ever came in, and why they have lasted so long, 
it is diflicult to understand. The gardens of rich and poor, 
big house and villa, were planted on the same system — 
perennials in lines, annuals in lines, Mignonette in lines ; 
and where long lines were not possible, the planting was 
in rows round the shrubberies, which is, I think, the 
ugliest thing I know. If shrubberies are planted with 
flowers at all, I like large holes cut back, which makes a 
good protection, and plants introduced in bold groups. I 
did not see one garden while I was away — whose owners 
ought to have known better — where things were what I 



152 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

call well planted, in good bold masses of colour ; whereas 
near Dublin more than two years ago I found the best 
herbaceous border I have ever seen. The way of plant- 
ing in this DubHn border, with all the reds in one place, 
and the blues, the yellows, and the whites kept apart as 
much as possible, was as superior to the dotted arrange- 
ment as the dotted system is to the line, in my opinion. 
I even saw in some places this year what I as a child 
had remembered as old mixed borders, turned into that 
terrible gardening absurdity, carpet-bedding — the pride, 
I suppose, of the gardener and the admhation of his 
friends. This is never to be seen now in Surrey, I think, 
except in certain beds at Hampton Court ; and why it is 
continued there I find it hard to understand, unless it 
is that it really does give pleasure to Londoners, and 
certainly in its way it is carried out to great perfection. 

I had always heard of the brilliant beauty of Scotch 
gardens, and the moment I saw them I understood why 
it was. The seasons are so late that all the summer 
flowers bloom together ; May and June of the South 
merge into July and August in Scotland, and everything 
is in flower at once. No wonder the gardens look bright ; 
besides, the damp air makes the colours more beautiful 
and the scent stronger. 

It is, I think, very interesting to the gardener, where- 
ever he goes, to see how the common everyday things 
flourish more in one place than another. The Highlands 
seem to be the home of the Gooseberry — such old and 
hoary bushes, more or less covered by grey Lichens, but 
laden none the less with little hairy Gooseberries, both 
red and green, and full of flavour. There, too, the 
beautiful Tropaolum speciosum, South American stranger 
as it is, flames and flourishes and luxuriates everywhere, 
growing too, as it will not do in the South, in full sun- 
shine. The seed is so lovely in Scotland, almost as 



AUGUST 153 

beautiful as the flower itself — three dark steel-blue 
seeds set in the dying flower, which turns a rich brown. 
Was ever anything more daintily beautiful to be seen ? 
It can be grown up strings, as in the picture in the 
' English Flower Garden ' ; but I do not think that is as 
pretty as rambling with its delicate growth over some 
light creeper, such as Jasmine or Eose, as I recommended 
before. I did not see in the Highlands, rather to my 
surprise, though I believe it is planted in some places, 
the beautiful crimson-berried Elder, Sambticus racemosa. 
This was the one remarkable plant-feature I saw in 
Norway last year. I was there too late to see the wild 
flowers. It had not been imported very long, they told 
us, and it adorned all the stations (there is only one short 
railway in Norway), throwing out long branches covered 
with bunches of crimson berries, which are shaped like 
the black bunches on the Privet rather than like the flat 
berries of the common Elder. At a distance the plant 
looks, when covered with ripe berries, like a beautiful 
Crimson Eambler. It is singularly effective, and I have 
never seen it in England. I imagine this must be 
because, if it grew and berried ever so well in damp 
places, the birds would soon clear off all the fruit. In 
Norway there seem to be no small birds, for there the 
berries hung for weeks and weeks, in crimson loveliness. 
The shrub is about the height of Lilac bushes ; the berries 
grow on the old wood, and the growth of the year is a 
most brilliant green. It is a plant that more people 
should try to grow in damp situations. 

We were far North, up in Sutherlandshire, where the 
great storm of two years ago laid bare miles and miles of 
forest. I never saw a more curious sight — pathetic and 
sad too, in a way. The poor trees, which had from their 
youth up been accustomed to storms from the south and 
west, had sent out long roots, and buried them deep under 



154 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

rocks and stones, which gave them firm hold to resist the 
blast. But on this November morning two years ago 
the snow was on the tree-tops, which made them heavy, 
and the fmnous gale swept on them from the north, and 
down they fell in thousands — whole hillsides laid bare, 
without one tree left standing, all torn up by the roots. 
It will be many years before the countryside is cleared 
of its own fallen timber. 

We lived a mile from the sea. The Sutherlandshire coast 
is tame enough, but beautifully desolate — no travellers, 
no tourists, nothing to disturb the solitude. I am not 
very fond of the Bast Coast, as there in the afternoon one 
is only able to enjoy reflected sunshine. It always 
reminds me of friends as they grow cold ; they ex- 
pect us to be warmed by the sunshine of yesterday. 
Once I went down alone to the shore ; it was a beauti- 
ful evening, with hundreds of shades of pearly greys 
and pinks reflected on sand and wave — an evening to 
make mean things noble and costly things ridiculous, an 
evening that humbles one down to the very dust, and yet 
lifts one clean off one's feet with enthusiasm and exultation. 
I remember years ago a friend of mine telling me she 
had met Jenny Lind, who had then just left the stage, at 
a quiet South Coast seaside bathing-place. Jenny Lind 
was sitting on the steps of a bathing-machine, and my friend 
began talking to her and asking her ' if she did not think 
she would miss terribly the excitement of acting.' ' Very 
likely,' she answered, ' but I had ceased to be able to 
admire that,' pointing to the great gold sun going down 
in its glory, ' and I had ceased to be able to read this,' 
tapping a Bible that lay on her knees. ' Don't you think 
it was time to give it up ? ' 

I had not been five minutes on this lonely Sutherland 
shore before I counted quite ten wild sea-birds of dif- 
ferent kinds flying around, screaming to each other, and 



AUGUST 155 

floating about on the tiny waves that broke gently on the 
sand. I suppose few can hear that sound of the waves 
without thinking of Tennyson's 'Break, break, break.' 
A Httle poem of Emerson's, much less known, is a great 
favourite of mine, full as it is of a tender double 

meaning : — 

The delicate shells lay on the shore ; 

The bubbles of the latest wave 

Fresh pearl to their enamel gave, 

And the bellowing of the savage sea 

Greeted their safe escape to me. 

I wiped away the weeds and foam, 

And brought my sea-born treasures home ; 

But the poor, unsightly, noisome things 

Had left their beauty on the shore 

With the sun and the sand and the wild uproar. 

I feel these lines reproach me for my many quotations. 
Have we any right to pick beautiful things out of books 
and quote them without their context ? I suspect not, and 
I beg you all to consider, if you find them deficient, that 
it is I who have taken them away from ' the sun and the 
sand and the wild uproar.' 

In the grounds of the great castle we were near was 
a very interesting museum. What an excellent thing 
is a private museum in a large place ! It would be 
a great advantage, I think, if it were started on many 
estates, or even in villages, as then the barbaric things 
and various specimens of natural history which different 
members of a family bring home might be kept where 
they are of distinct interest, instead of crowding up a 
modern sitting-room, where they look totally inappropriate 
and even ugly. 

There had always been a tradition that one of the 
ships belonging to the Spanish Armada had been 
wrecked off this coast, but no treasure had ever been 
found. Two years ago, when the river was low, a 



156 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

cow went into the mud to drink, and came out with a 
splendid Spanish old gold coin of the time of the Armada 
stuck in her hoof. Nothing more was discovered, but as 
the river was tidal it was a curious confirmation of the 
old tradition. On our way South we could not help 
noticing how far more beautiful Scotland is than Norway. 
The Heather was unusually fine this year. We stayed a 
night in Edinburgh, which gave me an opportunity of 
seeing the pictures in the National Gallery. I wonder if 
many tourists visit it? The morning I was there I 
did not see two people in the gallery. Besides the 
Eaeburns, which are of world-wide fame, several pictures 
stand out with peculiar interest, especially the life-sized 
Gainsborough of the young Mrs. Grahame. She sat for 
this picture as a bride, but before it came home she was 
dead and her husband had gone to the wars. When he 
came back, he never had the courage to open the case 
which contained his young wife's portrait. On his death, 
many long years after it was painted, it was opened by 
his heirs, and inside the case was the little white slipper 
she had left with the painter to help him to finish his 
picture. The portrait was given to the Edinburgh 
Gallery, and the slipper was kept by the family. It is 
worth noting that an oil picture should have remained 
so long shut up and apparently not deteriorated in any 
way. There is a lovely Greuze, one of the prettiest I 
have ever seen, a child of about fourteen crying over a 
dead canary; an exquisite little Boucher of Mme. de 
Pompadour; a large picture by the eighteenth-century 
Venetian painter Tiepolo, whose works are rarely seen 
out of Venice. The picture gives one more impression of 
his power and cleverness than it delights one with its 
beauty. The expression, character, and sex are described 
by the power of the brush as completely as by the word- 
painting of a Paul Bourget novel. What added to my 



AUGUST 157 

interest in Tiepolo was the revival of admiration his works 
have lately had among young French painters. I was 
immensely pleased at seeing a portrait of the painter 
Martin, by himself — a red-haired youth, with the cold 
dreamy eyes of the artistic temperament, a mouth rather 
sensual than passionate, a fine brow, and a slightly receding 
chin, which gave a touch of weakness to the face. All my 
life I have so admired his wildly imaginative illustrations 
of the Bible, Milton, &c. The impression given by the 
portrait is of a touching, interesting face, with that look 
of sorrow which so appeals to one, especially in the young. 
The gods do not always remember that those whom they 
love should die young. Poor Martin did not die till middle 
life, and went mad, I believe. 

On leaving Edinburgh we returned to Tweed-side, 
where we saw several of the old Border towers and the 
really fine ' stately homes ' of England. Here I was 
struck by the same mistake which prevails in the South. 
The walls and shapes of fine old houses are ruined by 
allowing, even on the southern and western aspects, a 
rampageous growth of coarse creepers, such as Ivy, the 
common Virginia Creeper, and Ampelopsis veitchii. This 
last is the most insidious and destructive of all, as no 
kitten compared to a cat, and no baby donkey compared 
to an old one, could ever more completely change its 
character from youth to age than does this creeper. 
When first planted, the tiny, delicate growth that creeps 
up the mullioned windows is as pretty and harmless as 
anything can be ; but in a year or two all this turns into 
a huge mass of green leaves of an even shape and size, 
smothering up any less strong-growing creeper and 
destroying all outline of the house itself, its tiny feet 
sticking so fast to the stone or brick work that, if you try 
to pull them away, small particles of the wall itself come 
with them. Besides the temptation of its beautiful early 



158 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

growth, one must admit that for ten days the red and 
bronze and gold of its autumn tints go far to compensate 
for its many defects during the rest of the year. But this 
pleasure is easily retained by allowing it to grow over 
some ugly barn or northern wall, which has no architecture 
to injure or hide, and where flowering creepers would not 
flower. No one who has ever been to America and seen 
Boston can forget the dreary effect of house after house 
covered from cellar to roof with this luxuriant, overpower- 
ing * Vine,' as every Creeper is called in America. The 
true name of the Ampclopsis is Tricuspidata ; but the 
Americans call it Japanese Ivy, in memory of where it 
comes from. If anything could accentuate the ugliness 
of the general effect, it is the square holes cut for the 
windows in this evenly green foliage. Everything is 
worth having in London that will grow there, but, with 
this picture in my mind, may I urge all who have any 
influence to make some protest against the fashionable 
use of this creeper, which seems to prevail from South to 
North of Great Britain ? Just before I left home I saw 
with consternation that every delicate brick turret of 
Hampton Court Palace had been carefully planted with 
Ampelopsis. For the present it looks harmless enough 
to all but the prophetic eye of a gardener, but in a few 
years the sharp lines of the delicate masonry will be 
entirely veiled by its luxuriant and monotonous growth. 
Surely fine and historical buildings are very much better* 
left without creepers. In the case of ordinary modern 
houses with bare walls it is infinitely better to cover them 
with some of the endless variety of shrubs, creepers, and 
plants, which can be chosen to flower in succession 
through the whole year — from the C}iimonanthusfragra)is, 
which pushes forth its sweet-scented brown flowers in 
January, to the bare branches of the Jasminuvi nudi- 
flonim, whose yellow stars light up a December fog. 



AUGUST 159 

Eeturning from Scotland, we spent a few days near 
Lancaster. The town is picturesquely situated. It is 
full of sketching possibilities for those who delight, as 
Turner did, in the glorification of commonplace objects 
by the veiling and unveiling of smoke, and in the con- 
stant colour-changes produced by the same. A very 
handsome bridge crosses the broad Lune, and carries 
the Preston and Kendal canal. This is one of the 
curious historical records of the waste of a people's 
money, and absolutely dead speculation. This canal was 
just finished, with its magnificent engineering, at great 
expense and with high hopes of its usefulness, imme- 
diately before the railways came and rendered it almost 
useless. Sleepy barges glide along it, profiting by its 
dignified engineering, and creeping under its countless 
bridges as they never could have done had it been cease- 
lessly ploughed by small steamers, as was intended. I 
do not exactly know why, but it brought back to my 
mind — from a consecutiveness of idea, I suppose — the 
elaborate fortifications of Quebec, the pride of George III.'s 
heart, upon which had been spent the nation's money and 
labour, and which were scarcely finished when the 
developments of modern warfare rendered them useless. 
Not very far from Lancaster, at Levens, is the famous 
example of topiary gardening which figures in the last 
edition of the ' English Flower Garden.' I was unfor- 
tunately prevented from going to see it by deluges of 
rain. 



i6o POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



SEPTEMBER 

Weeds we alternately love and hate — Amaryllis belladonna — First 
touch of frost — Colour-blindness — Special annuals — Autumn 
seed-sowing— Ke-planting Carnation layers — Planting drives and 
approaches to small houses — ' Wild gardening ' — Double Violets — 
Salvias — Baby chickens—Pigeons. 

September 11th. — In talking of the Welsh Poppy in July 
I spoke of it as one of the plants which are such weeds 
that at times one says, 'Oh, I wish I had never 
introduced the horrible thing into the garden at all ! ' 
Another of these is the Cmnpamda rammculus, or Creep- 
ing Bell-flower — ' creeping,' not because of its growth, but 
because of its root. After rain in July, August, or Sept- 
ember, or even much later, I know nothing more lovely 
than the way it throws up its flower-stems, quite in 
unexpected places. These when picked and fixed in 
vases in the Japanese way are most graceful, and last a 
long time in water. Another terrible weed is the wild 
annual Balsam, Impatiens glandulifera, which sows itself 
in the most audacious and triumphant manner ; but it 
takes little root-hold, and is easy to pull up in the spring. 
What a wonderfully handsome, yet delicate, plant it is ! 
with its beautiful flowers, its long pointed leaves, its red 
square stems, its seed-vessels shaped like buds, which 
burst with a crack and scatter the seeds far and wide. 
Were the plant difficult to grow, no garden or greenhouse 
would be without it. It deserves a place, even if reduced 
to one plant, in every moderate-sized garden ; it looks 



SEPTEMBER i6i 

especially well grown as a single plant in good soil. To 
add to its perfections it has a delicate, sweet smell, and 
does well in water. Gardeners will always look upon it, 
with a show of reason, as a horrid weed ; but flower- 
lovers will never be without it. The little yellow 
Fumitory is invaluable for walls and dry places and 
under shrubs, always looking fresh and green and 
flourishing, however dry the weather or apparently un- 
favourable the situation. It is a weed, but it keeps away 
other weeds, which, as the old nurse said, was the great 
use of mothers — they kept away stepmothers. Another 
low-growing, fast-spreading small plant I strongly recom- 
mend is the Polygommi affine. It has pink flowers, which 
continue in bloom many weeks ; it can be increased with 
the greatest facility by division, and it is a good border 
plant, as the leaves take beautiful colours in the autumn. 
The hardy Plumhago larpenta is a first-rate plant for a 
sunny, dry place, and its bright-blue flowers continue till 
the frost comes. Tradescantia virginica is a plant con- 
stantly turned out of borders, as it spreads so fast ; but all 
it requires is severe thinning in the spring, and again 
sometimes in the summer. I have four shades — the 
ordinary blue, a deep red-purple shade, a pale grey, and 
a pure white ; they are lovely flowers, and interesting 
through their unusual shape. All these last-mentioned 
plants are well worth growing in even the smallest gardens. 
September 15th.— I have flowered out of doors this 
year for the first time the beautiful Amaryllis helladonna. 
Anyone who has a garden, or a wall or a corner near a 
greenhouse, where the conditions for growing this Lily 
can be carried out, ought to spare no effort to make it 
successful. The instructions have been clearly given 
in the ' English Flower Garden,' but I have found two 
other things helped the growth — one is planting them 
by the wall of the greenhouse where the warm pipes run ; 

M 



1 62 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

and the other is, when the leaves have died down in June, 
and the earth is weeded and raked, to cover the beds 
where the bulbs are planted with pieces of glass, so that 
the rains of July, which are so frequent, should not damp 
the bulbs before they are ready to start into flower in 
September. When the flower-buds appear, a dose of 
liquid manure may be given them ; and a little fern to 
protect their leaves in early spring is desirable. I know 
nothing more beautiful than the fine, pink, Lily-like flower 
on its thick, rich brown stem when brought into a room. 
September 16th. — About this date is when we look, 
here in the South, for the first sign of cold, or even for frost. 
The weather must be watched, and any half-hardy things 
that have not done flowering are best taken up, potted, 
and encouraged to go on flowering. The drought this 
year kept many things back. My Tuberoses and the 
sweet-smelling white Bouvardia — the one best worth 
growing, especially outside — I must now take up, and 
they will go on flowering in the greenhouse. The pink 
and red Bouvardias are pretty, but have no sweet scent, 
like the white ; the pink ones are a true pink, and that 
is always worth cultivating for a greenhouse, where every 
shade of magenta should be excluded. I am sure many 
of the eye-shocks we receive with regard to colour — both 
in dress, in rooms, and in the arrangement of flowers — is 
not so much owing to what would be called bad taste as 
to various degrees of colour-blindness. An inability to 
see colours at all, much less to see the shades truly and 
correctly, is far more common than we imagine, and is 
one of the things that should be tested in child- 
ren, as — though probably the defect cannot be cured, 
any more than short sight, which is now so much helped 
by glasses, &c. — any good oculist would give advice as 
to the best method of cultivating the eye to be true as 
regards colour. The improvement in the arrangement of 



SEPTEMBER 163 

cut flowers in the last twenty years is very great indeed, 
and in almost every family there is one member at least 
who gives it real love and attention ; but I hardly ever 
see a greenhouse, large or small, that is not left entirely 
to the tender mercy of the gardener, who thinks of 
nothing, and quite rightly, but of his plants being healthy. 
He spots everything about — red, white, blue, grey, yellow — 
and often in the very midst he places some well-grown but 
terrible blue-pink or magenta Pelargonium, which puts 
everything out of tone. In the greenhouse, as in the 
garden, two th;ngs are to be aimed at — form and colour : 
and in a greenhouse one must be sure to add plants that 
give forth a sweet smell. To get the colour good, you 
must keep the plants in groups, the same colours as 
much as possible together, a bold mass of yellow, red, or 
blue, dividing them with green or nearly-green plants. 
Cryptomeria japonica makes a charming greenhouse 
shrub, and will grow in very small pots, and not grow 
quickly ; it is, however, only one of many. Another 
small green growth that is very pretty, and easy to gi'ow 
and increase by division, is Pllea muscosa. For smell I 
know nothing more delicious than the mixture of Lilium 
auratimi and Humea elcgans ; but lately I have had to 
give up that tiresome though charming half-hardy 
biennial, as, like the Hollyhocks, it is so apt to get a 
disease, its leaves growing spotty and falling off. In the 
' English Flower Garden ' it is said that this happens 
from sowing it too early the previous year. A thick- 
leaved plant called Bochea falcata I find a useful green- 
house plant. It has to be two or three years old before 
it flowers, but is easy to increase from cuttings in July. 
I tried drying it off like the Cactuses, but that does not 
answer ; it requires a warm greenhouse all the winter 
and a little water. For baskets in the greenhouse I 
use Fuchsia procumbens ; it has a lovely little miniature 

H 2 



1 64 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

llower, and later a pretty fruit three times as big as the 
flower. Campanula garganica, (blue, and the white one 
too) and Convolvulus mauritanicus are lovely basket plants. 
The last-named, nearly hardy, is from North Africa, 
and easy to increase from division or cuttings. The 
Cape Mesembryanthemums are pretty basket plants, and 
do well in a sunny greenhouse. Small, old-fashioned Ivy- 
leaved Geraniums grow prettily in baskets. But the 
flowers are endless that can bo grown in this way ; some 
require a saucer to keep in the moisture, others do not. 
Nothing, however, will teach all this but experience and 
constant reference to the books. 

Among tlie immense mass of annuals advertised in 
catalogues it is often so difficult to make up one's mind 
what to have. I live, luckily for me, not far from 
Mr. Barr's Nursery at Long Ditton, and this gives me 
a chance of seeing a variety of plants and annuals for 
which no private garden would have room. Two little 
half-hardy annuals that flowered this year for a very 
long time seem to mo well worth growing, Alonsoa 
linifolia and A. Warscewiczii. I do wish such small 
flowers would have less break-jaw names. They are low- 
growing (about a foot or a foot and a half high), rather 
delicate-looking little plants ; but so bright in colour, one 
scarlet and the other scai'let and orange. They are very 
effective if grown in a good large clump. Bartonia aurea 
is a picturesque-growing yellow summer annual, which 
does well in this light soil. 

Limnanthes Douglasii, a Californian annual, is much 
loved of bees in spring, and, if sown early in the autumn, 
flowers in May. Wallflowers require sowing very early 
for the following year ; also all the Primrose and Poly- 
anthus tribe are all better sown in April. I know nothing 
more puzzling in gardening than the times of sowing 
annuals and biennials to make them successful, and I 



SEPTEMBER 165 

imagine they must have different treatment in different 
soils and chmates. Constant practice and study are re- 
quired. All the autumn things do best here sown late in 
April or at the beginning of May ; otherwise they come in 
too early. Early annuals and late annuals are worth grow- 
ing in this light soil ; but Poppies, Salpiglossis, Migno- 
nette, and Sweet-peas are, I think, almost the only summer 
annuals we make room for every year. Eschseholtzias and 
Musk sow themselves, and only have to be thinned. The 
common Hemp (Cannabis sativa) is a lovely foliage-plant 
when well grown and not crowded up. 

It is all-important to remember in the sowing of 
seeds from January to September, be it in heat or out 
of doors, and whether perennials, biennials, annuals, or 
greenhouse plants, that what we want is not a quantity 
of seedlings all germinating into life in masses, but a few 
fine healthy plants. The larger and cheaper the packet 
of seed, the more thinly they should be sown. In the 
case of rare and delicate plants it is well to sow only one 
seed in each pot, the smallest that can be got (I have 
never seen any so small as the French ones), sink them 
in a box with cocoanut fibre, which prevents the 
necessity of constant watering. Seedlings, like all other 
plants, are the better for using nothing but rain-water, if 
possible. If the sowing is done in a seed bed out of 
doors, and if the weather is very dry, it is best to soak 
the ground well first before sowing, and then cover the 
tiny seed beds with fine gravel, leaving the small stones 
in, as they give great protection to the seeds from the 
heat of the sun. We have all noticed the vigour with 
which self-sown seeds grow in a gravel path. Towards 
the end of this month, or at the beginning of the next, is 
the time to take the early layers off the Carnations and 
to re-make the beds, or, at any rate, to plant them in 
clearly-named rows in the kitchen garden, so that they 



1 66 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

may be carefully moved in the spring with a ball of 
earth. I find that the beds made up in early autumn do 
much the best, though one is loath to disturb Carnations 
which may go on occasionally throwing up a flower, or 
whose foliage, in any case, is so very beautiful half 
through the winter if the weather keeps mild. 

Septeviher 16th. — Everyone who lives at all in the 
neighbourhood of suburban residences must be struck 
with the extraordinary sameness of the shrubberies 
which surround these houses and gardens, especially 
those which are almost invariably planted along the 
approaches. First of all you generally find the road 
waving and twisting — to give, I suppose, an impression 
of greater length — edged by a foot or two of grass, ugly 
in itself and laborious to keep tidy. The shrubs are 
roughly clipped back, chiefly at the bottom, while as 
they grow upwards the top branches out of reach are 
left to overhang the road. This clipping, without any 
regard to the good of the shrub, whether evergreen or 
deciduous, all treated in exactly the same way, makes a 
hideous hard wall of green, more or less imperfect. A 
still uglier way, though more modern, is to keep the 
shrubs apart by cutting them back in round, pudding- 
shaped nobs. This method has not one redeeming 
quality, to my mind. When you arrive in front of the 
house, the road terminates in a most unmanageable 
and impracticable circle, surrounding a green plot of 
grass with more or less the same clipped shrubs all 
round. This plot of grass is sometimes broken up with 
standard Eose-trees, or small beds with Geraniums, or 
basket beds, all very inappropriate, adding much to the 
gardener's labour, but not contributing in any way to 
any beauty of form or colour. Instead of this drive 
round a grass plot or the circular bed of shrubs, I think 
most people would find their approach more simple and 



SEPTEMBER 167 

dignified if that road were straightened where it is 
possible, and ended in a large square or oblong of gravel 
at right angles to the house, sufficiently roomy for 
carriages to turn with ease. The sides could then be 
planted with borders or shrubberies, or merely turfed, 
according to the taste of the owner and the space at his 
command. Where the soil is light, and the drive up long 
enough, it is well to plant it with the wild growth of the 
neighbouring common — Box, Holly, Broom, Ling, Honey- 
suckle, Blackberries. These will never grow into a wall, 
and require very little weeding and attention. 

Now a word about the original planting. When you 
take a new house, it generally happens that the first 
wish is to gain privacy by planting out a neighbour or a 
road. In light soils the common Ehododendron grows 
nearly as quickly, if planted in peat, as the Laurel or the 
Portugal Laurel. It is decidedly prettier, and does not 
suffer in the same way in severe winters from frost. I 
believe that some people prefer Laurels to other shrubs ; 
but it must be remembered that Laurels make root- 
growth like trees, take all moisture out of the soil, and 
starve other shrubs near them. Ehododendrons, on the 
other hand, grow very much on the surface, are easily 
transplanted at any time during the summer, and can be 
increased by layering. Where screening is necessary, 
the first object must, of course, be quick-growing shrubs, 
and these three — the common Ehododendron, the Laurel, 
and the Portugal Laurel — are, we must admit, the most 
satisfactory. They must be planted in bold masses, not 
mixed, and thinned out in a few years by taking out 
alternate plants. Where this screening is not wanted, 
choicer shrubs should be planted, with knowledge, 
according to their growth, their requirements of aspect, 
their size, their colour, their time of flowering, their 
hardiness or deHcacy, and so on ; all to be learnt from 



i68 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

the ' English Flower Garden.' A good deal of what I 
have said on the planting of herbaceous borders applies 
here — namelj^ the necessity of grouping colour in masses, 
and not speckling the kinds about at random. The 
amateur must not be disappointed at finding that a good 
shrubbery, however well planted, will not make much 
effect under five or six years. This kind of planting is 
very much better understood by the landscape gardeners 
sent out by nurserymen now than it was some years 
ago. 

If, instead of a new house, we buy a place that has 
been planted for some twenty or thirty years, the amount 
that has to be thinned out is incredible. People in Eng- 
land are so afraid of thinning out ; if they would only try 
it with greater boldness, they would soon realise how 
very quickly the gaps are filled up again by the improved 
strength of the plants. Short of destroying protection 
from winds, I should say it is hardly possible to do any 
harm if, where two plants are crowded together, the 
Laurel is always sacrificed. But remember that severe 
clearing of shrubs must be done in the summer, as when 
delicate shrubs that have always been surrounded by 
strong growers are exposed late in the year, they are apt 
to be killed if the winter is severe. Wherever Hollies 
or Yews have been crowded, they look very ugly, after 
clearing, for a year or so ; but if well cut back, they soon 
recover, and make better plants than young ones would 
do in many years. It is quite superfluous for me to give 
a catalogue of desirable shrubs, for there is an admirable 
list of all the hardy flowering trees and shrubs in the 
introductory part of the later editions of the eternally- 
mentioned ' English Flower Garden.' Their cultivation 
and propagation are all given in the body of the work. 
"Where edging is necessary to keep the soil separate from 
the gravel road, I should advise, instead of the grass, flat 



SEPTEMBER 169 

pieces of stone, where it is possible to get them, or bricks 
put in edgeways, or drain-tiles, tiles, or flints. There are 
all sorts of low-growing things which may be planted 
behind this edge, according to situation and aspect, such 
as Periwinkles, St. John's Wort, London Pride, and 
other Saxifrages, Heuchera, Tiarella cordifolia, and the 
hybrid Megaseas (large-leafed Saxifrage) in many 
varieties. However many or few of these varieties are 
chosen, each sort must be planted together in groups, 
never dotted about. Beside the more picturesque effect 
produced by masses, there is a practical necessity for 
this : the stronger-grovving plants crowd out the w^eaker. 
Some want replanting or dividing every year, others 
thrive best left alone. 

"What I have said above refers to moderate-sized 
places, but I think I can especially help people with 
regard to much smaller gardens, which I have so often 
seen ruined by coarse-growing shrubs, not one of which 
should be admitted. I should not allow anything 
coarser-growing than the green and variegated Box, 
the golden Privet, Bay-tree (which can be constantly 
cut back), Daturas, Viburnum plicakim, Irish Yews, 
Cotoneaster grown as a bush, Choisya ternata, Berberises, 
Buddlea globosa. If you have room, and can get the 
special soil, Azaleas and other of the smaller American 
plants are very desirable. I may mention now that for a 
very small garden no turf is advisable. Do not try to 
copy the Manor House garden, but rather take the 
cottage garden for a model, improving and beautifying it. 
Make the background of shrubs take the place of the 
background of cabbages of the cottager, and have only 
one paved path down the middle, and a narrow earth 
one round the outside. If you have a little spare space 
on one side or at the back, then turf that over and plant 
it with Apple-trees, spring and autumn bulbs. Columbines 



I70 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

for summer, together with Snapdragons and Foxgloves — 
all of which grow well in grass. The grass must then 
only be mown once a year, in July. 

Many of the houses built round the neighbourhood of 
London in the early part of the century were built close to 
the road, and have a ludicrous and pompous approach of 
a drive passing the front door, with two gates — one for 
entrance and one for exit. Surely this is a great waste 
of ground with no proportionate advantage. Most places 
of this kind would certainly be improved if the two gates 
were blocked up, the drive done away with, and a straight 
paved or bricked path made from the door to the road, 
with a shelter of wood, or even of corrugated iron, painted 
to match the house, and creepers planted along the posts 
that support it. The space on either side of this path 
could be planted with low-growing shrubs, or in some 
instances laid with turf. 

In spite of all the charming things Mr. Eobinson says 
about it, ' wild gardening ' is, I am sure, a delusion and 
a snare. I live near one of the most beautiful so-called 
wild gardens in England, but it requires endless care, 
and is always extending in all directions in search of 
fresh soil. What is possible is to have the appearance 
of a wild garden in consequence of the most judicious 
planting, with consummate knowledge and experience of 
the plants that will do well in the soil if they are just a 
little assisted at the time of planting. I saw the other 
day the most lovely Surrey garden I know, though it is 
without any peculiar natural advantages from the lie of 
the land — a flat piece of ground on the top of a hill, a 
copse wood of Spanish Chestnut, Birch, Holly, and Fir, 
Even in the original thinning of the wood the idea had 
been formulated that certain plants and trees had better 
be kept together as they grew, and broad open spaces 
had been cut, broken up with groups of Holly for 



SEPTEMBER 171 

protection. The paths were laid with that short turf 
that grows on Surrey commons, and only wants mowing 
three or four times a year. The planting had been done 
with the greatest skill, almost imperceptibly getting more 
and more cared for and refined as it got nearer the 
house. Here I saw, among many other things, the 
finest specimens of the smaller Magnolias, Stellata and 
Conspicua. This surprised me, as I thought they 
required heavy soil. The ground had been thoroughly 
well made, and they were well away from any trees that 
could rob them ; but in the lightest, dryest soil they were 
far finer plants than the specimen plants in the grass 
lawns at Kew. This whole garden was such a beautiful 
contrast from the usual planning and clearing-away of 
all the natural advantages that generally surround a 
place which is being built or altered. The land, as a 
rule, is dug over and made flat, and planted in the usual 
horrible shrubbery style. I have seen such wonderful 
natural advantages thrown away, a copse laid low to 
extend a lawn, a lovely spring, which could have been 
turned into a miniature river, made into a circular pond, 
with Laurels, Ehododendrons, and other shrubs dotted 
about, and twisted gravel paths made round it. Another 
lovely natural pond I knew, into which the rains drained, 
though nearly at the top of a hill, where water was 
precious and scarce. Now it is cemented all round with 
hard, cold cement, on which nothing can grow, and into 
which, in the wettest of weather, the water can no longer 
drain. The pond never fills, and nothing can grow 
around it. I know few things more depressing than an 
utter want of feeling for Nature's ways of playing the 
artist, as she does at every turn. I cannot understand 
anyone walking down a hilly road after rain without 
admiring the action of the water on its surface, with the 
beautiful curves and tui-ns and sand islands that Nature 



172 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

leaves in playful imitation of her grandest efforts — the 
St. Lawrence, for instance, cutting its way to the sea 
through its over two thousand miles of flat plains in 
North America. It has long been said, ' God sends the 
food, and the Devil sends the cook.' I am sure the 
same might be said of the owners, the nurserymen, and 
the landscape gardeners, who most carefully, as a rule, 
throw away every single natural advantage of the piece 
of ground they are laying out, and believe they are 
' improving ' ! What would give me the greatest pleasure 
would be to have the laying-out of a little place on the 
side of a hill with a fine view to the south and west, and 
the land sloping away and gently terraced till it reached 
the plain at the bottom. But for this kind of garden 
clever terracing and a good supply of water are absolutely 
necessary. 

September 20th. — Towards the end of this month we 
take up the double Violets — old Neapolitan and Marie 
Louise are the ones we grow — exchanging runners vnth 
friends and neighbours in the spring, as it is not well 
always to go on growing from the same plants, especially 
in a light soil, as they deteriorate. In April the old 
plants are broken up and the runners planted in a good, 
well-made bed of loam and leaf mould, not much manure, 
under a wall facing north, to keep them cool and shaded 
all the summer ; they must be watered if the weather is 
very dry. At this time of year we make a deep hole in 
the full sun in the kitchen garden, fill this in with the 
ordinary stuff for making a hot-bed, putting the frame 
over this, with the sides a little sunk to keep out the cold, 
and fill up the frame with good mould. It is of supreme 
importance that the Violets should be planted quite close 
to the glass of the frame, touching at first, as the mould 
always sinks a little. If the winter is cold, it helps the 
Violets very much to put some rough boards a foot away 



SEPTEMBER 173 

from the outside of the frame, and fill up the space with 
leaves or manure. We find nitrate of soda useful for 
many things, and especially so for Violets. For Czars 
and other outdoor Violets it is useful to cut a ditch 
running north and south, and plant both banks with 
young runners of Violets in April. The position is more 
natural to the plants than on the fiat ground, and they 
are shaded during part of each day ; this makes a great 
difference to so many plants. Oi)liioiJogon sjncatus is a 
small herbaceous plant which no one would grow merely 
for its unshowy little lilac flower, which appears late in 
the autumn, but it is well worth growing in every 
garden, because its pretty foliage is in its prime about 
December and January, and is most useful for mixing 
with small greenhouse flowers. 

SejJtefuber 25th. — The plants moved from the reserve 
garden in July have done very well. The Michaelmas 
Daisies are unusually good. There are a great many 
dwarf kinds, ver}^ suitable for small gardens. Little 
shapely trees covered v/ith starry white or lilac flowers 
are, I suppose, to be got anywhere now; mine came 
from my neighbour, Mr. Barr, who has a grand collec- 
tion. I can only repeat what I said before, how easily 
these plants can be divided and replanted in spring, and 
in large and roomy places a Michaelmas Daisy garden 
can be made for the late months. BoUonia corymhosa is 
a charming plant, more restrained than the Michaelmas 
Daisy, and better suited to small gardens. It is very 
pretty picked, but its fault is that it comes in rather 
early. 

The wet weather has suited one of the handsomest 
of autumn flowers, the tall white Pyrethrum. Salvias do 
well here, but they like it dry and hot, and are not so good 
as usual this year, though flowering well now. S. patens, 
the dark-blue, and S. sijUndens, the beautiful scarlet one, 



174 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

are the two that no one should be without. They grow 
most easily from cuttings every year, though we keep the 
tubei'ous roots of S. patens, as we do Dahlias, from year 
to year. There are other Salvias quite worth growing, 
but none I know so good as these two. Things are keep- 
ing on well in the kitchen garden with the wet and the 
absence of frost. We have still some excellent late-sown 
Fi-ench Beans. As a rule gardeners stint the slightly 
uncertain crop of French Beans by not sowing them in 
succession, depending for the kitchen supply on the 
Scarlet Eunners, which are not nearly so delicate, and 
have not half the flavour of the true French Beans. Late 
Peas completely beat us. We have never had them but 
once ; they damp off. This must be, I should think, from 
the western aspect of the garden. I wull try sowing them 
the first week in June next year in an open field we have, 
exposed to the full sun and wind, to see if in that position 
they will do better. 

September ^Qth. — We have tried for the first time just 
lately the baby chickens, which were a fashionable and 
expensive luxury last season in London. Eoast them 
as you roast a quail, or they can be boiled and served 
cold with a covering of delicate white Mayonnaise 
sauce. They should be killed when five or six weeks old, 
cooked the same day, and each person should have one. 
This sounds very extravagant, but a chicken the day of 
its birth is not worth much more than the price of an egg, 
and feeding them six weeks is no great expense. I can 
strongly recommend anyone who keeps poultry to try 
them, as we found them very delicate and tender. 

For those w^ho keep pigeons and want to kill them off — 
which, of course, must be done — I do not advise you to roast 
them and place them on the meiiu as ' Bordeaux pigeons ' 
(which a friend of mine did, to the indignation of her sons), 
but to cook them as they do ptarmigan in Norway : — 



SEPTEMBER 175 

Stew them quite fresh in an earthenware stew-pan 
(with the Hvers, &c., chopped up, inside them) in good 
stock, with a lot of vegetables cut up, especially onion and 
a bunch of herbs, which is removed before serving. If 
more details are wanted, the receipt for jugged hare in 
' Dainty Dishes ' will supply them. Serve with a hot 
compote of Cherries, dried or bottled, or Cranberries or 
Bilberries or Barberries, instead of the usual Eed Currant 
jelly. If you have a great many pigeons, they could be 
boned and made into the French Pie, according to the 
recipe in ' April.' 

We grow a great many Morella Cherries on the east and 
north side of the wall. These ripen enough to be used for 
compotes in July, but by covering up the trees they can be 
kept on till now, or even later, and this is the best time for 
making them into Brandy Cherries, as follows : — Cut the 
cherries off the trees, leaving a little stalk, and let them 
drop straight into the bottle. When the bottle is half-full, 
shake in some powdered white sugar. Fill, up with more 
cherries and more sugar. When quite full, pour in brandy, 
and leave it till next day. Then fill up the bottle with 
brandy, and cork it down. Seal the cork as in receipt 
before given {see pp. 109, 110). The brandy cherries are 
better if kept for two years before eating. 

All gardens at this time of the year are full of 
unripe green Tomatoes ; they are generally left hanging 
on the plants till the frost touches them, and then thrown 
away. If picked and stewed in a little butter in an 
earthenware dish, they are excellent. They have not 
quite the same flavour as the ripe ones, but still they are 
very good, and some people think them nicer than the 
red ones when cooked. 

Carrots are a very neglected vegetable in England, and 
yet they are good in so many ways. The following is a 
Belgian receipt : — Cut the red part into thin Julienne strips, 



176 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

boil for tii'teeu minutes, drain, then put them into a stew- 
pan with a nice piece of butter, a httle sugar, and cover 
with Hght stock. Stew for about half an hour ; then set 
over the fire, and boil till they are nicely glazed. Young 
Carrots are good done in the same way, but only take 
about half an hour's boiling. Carrots are excellent pur6e'd 
like mashed Turnips. French Beans and Scarlet Eunners 
are very much better boiled whole, if not too old, only 
partly drained, and butter added at the last ; they should 
be boiled enough to break up when the butter is stirred 
in. To be served very hot. For a second-course dish 
cream may be added as well as butter. When French 
Beans are old and the seed ripe, they cook as well as the 
real white Haricots. 

Every year I grow Eed Cabbages, and cook them as 
recommended in ' DaintyDishes.' I also make large jars 
of pickled Eed Cabbage, most useful in the winter. The 
following is a German receipt, and also good : — Cut the 
cabbage as for choucro7ite. For three or four large cabbage 
heads take jlb. of butter, put it into an earthenware 
saucepan on a coal fire. When melted, add the cabbage, 
salt, pepper, and a little flour and a large cupful of good 
broth ; cover well, and let it cook for about an hour and 
a half, turning it from time to time. During the last 
half-hour add a glass of strong red wine. 

Some years, and this has been one, the Siberian Crabs 
ripen in great quantities. They look so lovely on the 
tree, one hates to pick them ; but the moment they are 
ripe the missel-thrush clears every one off, with the same 
rapidity with which he leaves us without a single berry 
on the Mountain Ash in the summer. So we harden our 
hearts, and gather them to make into jam, according to 
the following receipt (the fruit of the Bosa riigosa can be 
utiUsed in the same way) : — ' 

Eemove the stalks and well wash the fruit, put this 



SEPTEMBER 177 

into a preserving-pan with just enough water to cover 
them ; boil until quite tender ; then rub through a brass 
wire sieve, and for every 1 lb. of pulp add 1 lb. of 
sugar. After bringing to the boil, simmer for three- 
quarters of an hour and put into jars. It will become 
firm as it cools. It is, although not so clear, almost as 
good as Currant jelly. 

An immense improvement to stewed Apples or Apple 
tart — if the crust be baked apart, as recommended in 
' March ' — is to put in four or five Peach leaves, fresh from 
the trees, and take them out before serving ; it gives the 
Apples a most excellent flavour. 



178 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



OGTOBEB 

Autumn mornings and robins — Italian Daturas — The useful ' Myti- 
cuttah ' — Nerines — Three Cape greenhouse plants — Sweet Chest- 
nuts — Other people's gardening dif3&eulties — Making new beds — 
The great Apple time — French White Haricot — The stewing of 
chickens and game — Re-planting Violas and Saxifrages — ' St. 
Luke's summer ' — Plants for August, September, and October — 
London gardens. 

October 1st. — Once more we are back in the month when 
the robin sings so much. The robins, I find, are the 
tamest of all the birds in a garden ; and as we fork over 
the beds, or dig new ones, they follow us all about, 
enjoying much the newly turned-up earth. Almost the 
prettiest lines in the ' Christian Year ' are about the Eobin 
Eedbreast, and were written by a friend of Keble's. I 
wonder if the ' Christian Year ' is read now, and is as well 
known as it used to be ? I will risk it, and recall the two 
favourite little verses : — 

TO THE EEDBREAST 

Unheard in summer's flaring ray, 

Pour forth thy notes, sweet singer, 
Wooing the stiUness of the autumn day ; 

Bid it a moment linger, 
Nor fly 
Too soon from winter's scowling eye. 



OCTOBER 179 

The blackbird's song at eventide 

And hers who gay ascends, 
Telling the heavens far and wide, 

Are sweet. But none so blends 
As thine 
With calm decay and peace divine. 

The following four verses are, I think, very pretty, 
and not likely to be generally known (I do not know who 
wrote them) ; and how we do, all of us, ' love the sweet fall 
of the year ' ! — far the most beautiful of all the seasons 
in England : — 

I wondered this year — for the autumn was in. 
The acacias were dark and the linden leaves thin, 
And the south wind in coming and going was loud, 
And odorous and moist, like the breath of a cloud — 

I wondered and said, ' Then the autumn is here. 
God knows how I love the sweet fall of the year ; 
But the feeling of autumn is not in my brain ; 
My God, give me joy in Thine autumn again.' 

I woke in the morning, and out in the air 

I heard the sweet robin his ditty declare. 

And my passion of autumn came down from the skies, 

And I leapt from my bed with the tears in my eyes. 

Ah ! robin, sweet robin, dost thou know the power 
That comes on the heart Avith the fall of the flower. 
The odour of winds, and the shredding of trees. 
And the deepening of colour in skies and on seas ? 

October 2nd. — How beautiful are these early autumn 
mornings ! Here, at any rate, they have qualities un- 
equalled all through the long year. The flowers shine 
with colour out of the grey mists, as they do at twilight in 
the long summer evenings, and the gardens now are all 
filled with dewy gossamer. 

Two new autumn Crocuses have lately been brought 
to my notice ; one, C speciosus, is very pretty standing up 

n2 



i8o POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

straight and strong on a border or rockery. It is of a very 
blue colour, with a centre of lovely stamens and stigma 
forming a bright orange tassel. These species of Crocus 
are much more satisfactory to grow^ in borders than the pale 
Colchicums of the Swiss meadows, as they are true Cro- 
cuses, and only form in spring slight narrow leaves instead 
of the despairingly coarse growth of the Colchicums, which, 
dying down in the end of May, make such an eyesore in 
the borders ; it seems best therefore to plant the latter in 
grass. My double and single Italian Daturas are later 
this year than usual, owing to the wet weather ; but they 
are covered with blooms now, and very sweet. The 
double ones will last longer in water, scenting a room, 
than the single ones. We plant them out at the end of 
May ; and when they have been out three weeks or so, a 
spade is passed round them to cut the roots, and a ditch 
made, which is filled in with manure. This generous 
treatment makes the whole difference in their flowering 
well. I cannot say whether it would be necessary in a 
damper soil, but I think it would, as cutting their roots in 
spring stimulates them to flower earlier, before the frost 
comes. The old plants are taken up and put into pots, 
and housed for the winter. This is such a happy time of 
the year for a gardener. There is a sense of power about 
it ; all the planting and planning and changing are done 
now. One is loth to disturb beds till the frost comes 
and kills things down ; but it is most desirable not to put 
o& planting, and to get everything done one can before 
any real cold comes. 

I am gradually clearing away nearly all the Laurels I 
found on the place, only keeping those growing under 
trees, and others that form a protection against the 
north-east wind ; but even those few that are left want 
constantly cutting back, as they soon encroach and choke 
everything else. At the stores they sell a most excellent 



OCTOBER i8i 

instrument for pruning, called the ' Myticuttah.' There 
are some with long handles and some with short ; they 
cut through quite big branches like butter, and are really 
indispensable. The work is not too tiring for any woman 
to do herself, and everyone should have a strong pair of 
French nippers as well, for cutting back smaller shrubs 
and plants. One is always seeing in catalogues that this 
plant or that will do for the borders of shrubberies. My 
experience is that no summer herbaceous plants do in the 
borders of shrubberies at all, though spring and autumn 
things may do fairly well ; and many of the smaller shrubs, 
like Lavender Cotton, Eosemary, and Brooms of sorts, 
will hold their own in front of larger shrubs. 

October Ath. — The Nerines {see Johnson's ' Gardener's 
Dictionary ') have flowered well and been charming this 
year. N. Fothergillii is the finest colour, but all are 
most useful autumn bulbs, and last a long time in water. 
They are easy to manage, and, like many Cape bulbs, flower 
before the leaves are produced. During the growing of 
the leaves they must be carefully attended to and 
watered ; and even, now and then, a small dose of liquid 
manure does them good. They are best not re-potted, 
except very rarely ; and as the leaves die down they must 
be laid on their sides and dried and well baked in the 
sun, just like the Freezias, only not shaken out and 
re-potted, as recommended for them. The bulbs, too, 
should be planted, like Vallotas or Hyacinths, well on the 
top of the pot. I never can understand why these very 
ornamental bulbs are not grown in larger quantities 
especially as they increase and improve, instead of being 
almost useless, as is the case with the spring bulbs after 
forcing. 

A Cape family of small, very sweet-smelling shrubs 
called Diosma {see Johnson's ' Gardener's Dictionary ') are 
well worth growing ; in fact, no greenhouse ought to be 



i82 POT-POURRI I ROM A SURR1':Y CARDEN 

without some of thoin. Thoir chanii is priucjipally in 
thoir foliage and scout, as the flowers are insignificant. 
They are easily increased by cuttings in spring under a 
boll-glass. The growing of Capo plants is always 
interesting. Small Cape Aloes have charming pink 
flowers in spring, whicli last long in water, not unlike the 
Lachenalias {sec catalogues), all of which are worth 
growing. 

Lconot'ia Iconurus has not flowered out of doors with 
mo this year at all, either in large pots or planted out in 
a bed. The plants wore covered with buds, and so we 
lifted them at the end of September, and put them into 
the heat, where they have flowered well. This would be 
worth while for anyone with plenty of room, as it is such 
a handsome unusual flower when picked. Like the 
Daturas, they may bo extra late from the excessive 
dryness of May and June, and the wot afterwards. It is 
a Cape plant ; there it forms large bushes covered with 
bloom. Another African greenhouse plant well worth 
growing is called Sparvtannta africana. The covering 
of the bud is white, and shows, when the flower opens, 
between the four petals, forming an unusually pretty 
star-shaped flower with a brush of yellow stamens 
tipped with led. 

We have a good many fine Sweet Chestnut trees, 
and they ripen more or less well every year. Wo cook 
them in a great many ways : boil them and shell them, 
and warm them up in butter or with a little stock, as a 
vegetable. They are very good made into a pmtSe with 
butter and cream, to eat with cutlets ; or boiled and 
rubbed through a wire sieve, to serve round whipped 
cream well flavoured with sugar and vanilla. Of course 
the cheap Chestnuts sold in London can all be cooked in 
the same way, but only the best Italian Chestnuts are 
good for roasting. 



OCTOBER 183 

October Qth.—l have been lately on the East Coast. 
One cannot help being amused to find that gardening is 
so like life, each one has his own difficulties. I was 
suggesting to my friend to plant her Violets in leaf- 
mould, when she said: 'Why, we have not a single 
leaf. The few there are on the dwarf trees blow away 
into space.' Oh ! what a fight the poor plants have 
with the salt-laden winds ! But some things thrive and 
flourish by the sea as they do nowhere else. I think the 
sunk Dutch gardens, before described, will be found most 
useful by the seaside. 

October lith.-It is a very good plan, when you want 
to cut a new bed or alter the shape of an old one, to 
shuflle along the wet dewy grass on an October morning 
—and this leaves a mark which enables you very well to 
judge of size, shape, and proportion— before you begin to 
cut your beds out. I am taking up and replanting— in 
the way before described of massing all the plants of 
one colour together— my long herbaceous borders. These 
borders run right across what was once a fair-sized lawn, 
and the principle of the garden is to have it all beds and 
low-growing shrubs, except the paths, which are turf ; 
the main paths are left gravelled for the sake of dryness 
in bad weather. I only replant the herbaceous borders 
every four or five years, mulching them well every 
winter; and even then it is best only to replant them 
partially, as certain fine plants are much injured, if not 
killed, by moving at all, and these plants remain as 
landmarks both as regards height and colour for the 
replanting of the borders. Keeping colours together and 
some empty spaces for annuals or filling up in spring or 
summer out of the reserve garden, makes it much easier 
to prevent the borders looking dull and shabby at any 
time during the summer months. 

The large square beds are planted now with all kinds 



i84 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

of spring-flowering things, not formally, but in broad 
patches — Wallflowers, Forget-me-nots, Tulips, Silene, 
Limnantlies donglasii (a Californian annual much loved 
by the bees), sowing a large patch of Love-in-the-mist 
and the annual Gypsophila (for early flowering, sown in 
September), Spanish Iris, Pinks and Carnations, Madonna 
Lilies, a large corner of Anemones, and another of Scabiosa 
caucasica {see ' EngUsh Flower Garden '), both these 
grown originally from seed. And as the spring flowers 
pass away, their places are filled up from autumn-sown 
plants, Snapdragons, &c., which are quite hardy when 
young and in the seed bed, but which get killed and 
injured by cold winds in the open. Let everyone read 
what is said in the ' English Flower Garden ' on the 
giant Saxifrages, Megaseas. There are several varieties, 
all worth growing, and they are most useful, satisfactory 
plants for all sox'ts of purposes, not nearly grown enough 
for covering the ground and making fine masses of 
low-growing foliage. To keep out weeds by planting 
low-growing and spreading plants is a great secret of 
gardens that are to have a picturesque appearance, and, 
in fact, be a cultivated wilderness rather than a tidy 
garden. 

October 15th. — This is the great Apple time. All the 
windfalls that take place in September and October we 
collect, a.nd either eat or stew down into Apple jelly. It 
is very useful through the winter in many ways, and 
injured Apples never keep. 

Quince jam and jelly we also find good. This is an 
old-fashioned receipt: — First boil the Quinces till soft, 
for about half an hour ; take off the outer thin skin. 
Cut the Quinces in half, removing the core, and pulp 
them. To every pound of Quince pulp add half a pint 
of the water in which the Quinces were boiled. Peel 
carefully and cut up some Blenheim Apples ; add half a 



OCTOBER 185 

pound of Apples to every pound of Quince pulp, and 
three-quarters of a pound of sugar to every pound of 
fruit. Boil for three hours. 

We find the ripe Beans of the Scarlet Eunners very 
good if well boiled, and then served with a little of the 
water and a good bit of fresh butter stirred in just 
before dishing up. Many years ago Mr. Bright, in the 
' Lancashire Garden,' wrote : ' One excellent vegetable I 
have generally grown I would recommend to anyone 
who has space to spare- — the French White Haricot. It 
is not often seen with us, though it is so very common in 
France. It is a species of French Bean, of which you 
eat the white bean itself instead of slicing up the pod. I 
suspect that, taking England through, there are very few 
gardens where the White Haricot is found.' This was 
true nearly twenty years ago, but the astonishing thing 
is that it is true still. It is wonderful how rarely the 
Haricot blanc is to be seen at English tables. Is this 
the fault of the gardener or the cook ? I suspect both. 
It is very disheartening to grow vegetables the cook does 
not know how to use. English housekeepers, so extrava- 
gant about many things, are often curiously economical 
on the subject of butter. To use that horrid, fatty, adul- 
terated stuff called ' kitchen butter ' with vegetables is 
fatal ; it must be good fresh butter. There are only 
two economies that generally rather wasteful people try 
to practise — one is in coals, and the other is in butter. 
Neither makes much difference in the year, and many 
other things could be so well done without. Compared 
to the expense of wine and meat, they are really nothing 
at all. Vegetables should not be cooked in butter except 
when really fried ; they should be boiled, and drained, and 
warmed up, and cold butter stirred in just before serving. 
Vegetables should not look or taste greasy, or rice either. 

In the autumn those who keep fowls always have 



1 86 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

some to get rid of that are better stewed than roasted. 
The following is an old family receipt I have not seen 
elsewhere : — 

Poulet a la Turque.— Truss a chicken as for 
boiling, put it in a deep fricandeau-pan, spread it thickly 
with butter, and lay therein a dozen pieces of raw ham, 
some carrots, onions, parsley, and a little nutmeg, pepper, 
and salt ; cover with a buttered paper. Braize it for one 
hour. When it is dished, place round the chicken in 
groups stewed rice, sultanas, and prunes. Pour a 
lightly seasoned curry sauce over the chicken, and serve 
more sauce in a sauce-boat apart, if desirable — especially 
if there are two chickens. 

People who have a good deal of game get rather tired of 
the eternally roast pheasant or partridge with bread sauce. 
The following is a good receipt to make a variety : — 

Partridg'e op Pheasant a la Sierra Morena.— 
Take a brace of partridges properly trussed. Cut into dice 
1 inch thick a little less than \ lb. of bacon, put them 
into the stew-pan ; cut 2 large onions in quarters, take 
6 whole black peppers, a little salt, 1 bay-leaf, a \ gill 
of vinegar, 1 gill of port wine, 1 gill of water, 1 table- 
spoonful of salad oil. Put all these ingredients into the 
stew-pan with half a sheet of kitchen paper; stew on 
a slow fire for 2 hours. Then take out the partridges 
and dish them, and put round some of the quarters of 
onions which have been stewed, pass the gravy through 
a sieve, and send to table. 

Just now the greengrocers' shops in town and 
country are full of very cheap large melons brought from 
abroad. I find they make a very good compote if the 
hard outside is taken off and the pulp cut into pieces 
the size of a plum. Make a syrup of sugar flavoured 
with the melon-peel, spice, bay-leaf, and a little powdered 
ginger ; boil this up, and pour it over the pieces of melon. 



OCTOBER 187 

Turnips are often strong and hard with us. This 
year they are dehcious, and we have had a very pretty 
dish — much appreciated — of small round Turnips boiled 
tender, and served with a white sauce made of milk boiled 
till it thickens, into which has been stirred a little butter 
and cream. 

Carrots, too, are delicious done in this way with the 
addition of a little parsley and sugar. 

The following is a good cake : — The weight in flour 
of four eggs ; beat to a cream, butter, sugar, rind of lemon 
grated, a few Sultanas, and citron ; then add the yelk of 
each egg, one by one ; then add the flour, and beat the 
white of the eggs to a froth just before putting it into the 
oven. Bake for half an hour in a flat tin dish. 

October 18i/i. — I have at last succeeded in flowering 
the Schizostylis coccinea. I am relieved to see that in 
the new edition of the ' English Flower Garden ' this is 
pronounced a great difliculty in a light dry soil. It is 
probably owing to the very wet autumn we have had 
that these little Cape bulbs have done so well. They 
were planted in fairly good garden soil, under the pro- 
tection and shade of a wall facing east ; so they did not 
get much sun except early in the year, when at rest ; and 
when they began to grow, they were watered till the rain 
came. When the flower-spikes began to colour and 
nearly open, as the nights were very cold, I cut them and 
put them in water in a warm room, and they bloomed 
quite well. Two or three sticks as a support, and mats or 
newspaper thrown over them, help these late-flowering 
plants in prematurely cold weather, which often lasts only 
a day or two. 

October 24i/i. — This is about the time we replant the 
Violas and Saxifrages in the sunny beds, taking them 
out of the shady border in the reserve garden. London 
Pride is better taken up and divided every two years. As 



i88 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Saxifrages do not mind the dry springs, it is well worth 
while to grow a quantity of London Pride, the bloom of 
which resembles in colour a faint pink evening cloud ; 
this is not only a satisfactory plant when picked, but it 
will travel well, and makes a lovely support for Iceland 
poppies and other flowers. 

October 21th. — I have been taking up to-day the 
Lobelia cardinalis and L. fulgens. Cardinalis is the one 
with the dark leaves and the handsomer grower ; the 
other flowers rather the earlier. 

October 28th. — With all the weeks and weeks of wet 
we have had this year we have waited long for our ' St. 
Luke's Summer ' ; and now it has come at last, it is not 
with its usual still, lovely warm days. It has come fine 
and lovely, yes ; but hand-in-hand with Jack Frost, and 
the garden is cleared for the present of nearly every 
bloom that was left. 

A first foggy day ! How beautiful it is in the country, 
and what an endless pleasure when, at midday, the sun 
conquers the mist ! — reminding one of Milton's simile at 
the end of his description of his hero, Satan : — 

. . . As when the sun, new risen, 
Looks through the horizontal misty air 
Shorn of his beams. 

And how useful are days like these in the country ! There 
is no such time for noticing the shapes of the groups of 
shrubs and forms of plants, and what ought to be cut 
away and what left as it is. Some low-growing plants 
luxuriate so in the wet autumn days, they make us believe 
no winter is coming — such as the foliage of Pinks and 
Carnations, Sweet Williams, Golden Feverfew, and last, 
but not least, another of the treasure weeds of a garden, 
the common Marigold. Down the kitchen garden I have 
a patch of border given up to the Marigolds, and they 



OCTOBER 189 

sow themselves over and over again, and flower at all 
sorts of unexpected times. As they proudly defy early 
frosts, they become really precious with their grand glow- 
ing orange faces. As is so often the case, the single ones, 
with their varieties of dark and light centres, are prettier 
than the double ones, though both may be grown to suit 
all tastes, the colour always being good. No garden, 
however small, should be without this patch devoted to 
Marigolds. I do not dislike their pungent smell, as 
many do. 

The wet has kept the leaves long green and fresh on 
the trees, but the cold of last night brought down at 
once the great succulent leaves of some young Horse 
Chestnuts not far from here. Just about this garden they 
will not grow, as they so dislike the sand. As I passed 
them to-day I noticed the leaves all lay in heaps, freshly 
fallen round the slight stems, on the green grass, fold on 
fold, in the low autumn sunshine. Very beautiful, like 
Keats's description in ' St. Agnes' Eve ' of fair Madeline 
unrobing : — 

Of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees, 
Unclasps her warmed jewels one by one, 
Loosens her fragrant bodice ; by degrees 
Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees, 
Half hidden, like a mermaid in seaweed. 

So the trees stood up this afternoon, with all their summer 
clothing round their feet. 

I always long at this time of the year to have been to 
Japan to see one of their Chrysanthemum shows. I am 
told our individual flowers are far finer, but their method 
of arranging the shows is so superior to ours, and the 
efi"ect produced is naturally much more lovely. They 
arrange them in bands and waves of colour, from the 
darkest red to the palest pink, fading into white ; and up 
again from pale lemon, yellow, and orange to the darkest 



I go POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

brown. I am sure, even in small collections, picked and 
unpicked Chrysanthemums look far better if the colours 
are kept together in clumps, and not dotted about till the 
general effect becomes mud-colour, as English gardeners 
always arrange them, only considering their height or the 
size of their unnaturally disbudded blooms. They are, 
I admit, most beautiful and useful flowers. What should 
we do without them ? But owners of small places, and I 
think even large ones, should guard against too much 
time, attention, and room being given to them. For 
putting into vases, there is no doubt Chrysanthemums 
look better allowed to grow more naturally and not so 
disbudded. A huge Chrysanthemum that is nearly the 
size of a plate, though it may have won a prize at a local 
flower-show, looks almost vulgar when picked. Bunches 
of Chrysanthemums with their buds will go on blooming 
a long time in water, and make in a room a natural and 
beautiful decoration, instead of painfully reminding one of 
the correctness of the flower's paper imitations. 

A kind gardening friend living in Lancashire has 
written me out the following list of ornamental shrubs 
and flowering plants which, for one reason or another, 
look well in August, September, and October. I think, 
though I mention several of the plants elsewhere, it 
useful to give it in its entirety, as many are of opinion 
that in those three months it is necessary to be entirely 
dependent on bedded-out plants for colour and beauty. 

Trees for autumn leaves and berries : — Ash (Moun- 
tain), Cherry, Siberian Crab, Buckthorn (sea). Elder 
(golden). Filbert (purple). Hawthorn, Hornbeam, Maple. 

Creepers and shrubs for autumn : — Aristolochia 
sipho, Arbutus, Azara microphylla, Berberis thunbergi, 
Clematises of sorts, Clerodendron, Colutea, Cotoneaster, 
Cydonia japonica, Dog- wood, Eccremocarpus scaber, Esca- 
lonia macrantha, Euonytnus (both European and latifolius), 



OCTOBER 191 

Genista, Heath, Hibiscus, Honeysuckle, Hydrangea 
paniculata, Hypericum, Indigofera, Jasmine, Laurus- 
tinus. Lavender, Leycesteria formosa, Maho7iia, Olearia 
Jiaasti, Pernettyas, Lithospermum, Pyracantha, Primus 
piissardii, Bhus laciniata, Bosa rugosa, Eoses (autumn), 
Kosemary, Biibus (Brambles), Skimmia, Snowberry, (Spar- 
tiimi junceum, Tamarisk, Virginia Creeper, Vines of sorts. 

Plants. — Achillea ptarmica flore pleno, Aconitum 
(Monkshood), ^(Zoms autumnalis. Anemone japonica {most 
useful, three shades), Asters, Michaelmas Daisies of 
sorts, Agerattim, Antirrhinum, Armeria ccespitosa (Sea 
Pink), Bergamot, Calendiila, Marigold, Callistephus 
(China Aster), Campanulas of sorts. Campion (Eose), 
CanncB, Gentaurea, Chrysanthemum, Colchicum (autumn 
Crocus), Convolvulus tricolor, Coreopsis lanceolata, 
Cu£urbita (Gourd), CupJiea zimpani (good annual), 
Dahlias of sorts, Datura, Dianthuses of sorts, Desmodium, 
Diplopappus, Echinops, Erigeron, Eryngiums of sorts, 
Exogonium purga (Jalap plant), Fuchsia, Funkias of 
sorts, Gaillardia, Gaultheria, Geum coccinetim. Gladioli 
of sorts, Gypsophila paniculata, Harpalium rigidum, 
Helenium, Helianthuses of sorts (Sunflowers), Heli- 
chrysum (Everlasting), Heliotrope, Hollyhock, Hyacin- 
thus candicans, Hypericums of sorts, Ipomcea (Convol- 
vulus), Lathy rus (Sweet Pea), Lengogium autumnale, 
Lilium tigrimim, Linaria, Linum, Lobelia cardinalis and 
fulgens, Lunaria (Honesty), Mathiola (Stocks of sorts), 
Oxalis, Pentstemons of sorts, Physalis alkekengi (Winter 
Cherry), Phytolacca decandra, Pkimbago carpentce, 
Polygonums of sorts. Poppies of sorts, Pyrethrum uli- 
ginosum, Beseda (Mignonette), Budbeckia neumani. 
Scabious of sorts, Statice latifolia, Tagetes (Marigold), 
Tansy, Tritonia tropaolum, Nasturtiums of sorts, Vinca, 
Periwinkle, Viola, Verbena, Yucca, Zinnia. 

It seems hardly necessary to mention that many of 



192 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

these plants flower earlier further South than they do in 
Lancashire. 

October 26i/i. — The French proverb, ' La variety c'est 
la vie,' always appeals to me in many things, especially 
domestic ones. I know nothing such a test of a good 
housekeeper as a periodic change of biscuits. Every- 
body tires of the best biscuits in the world, and the new 
shape and the old biscuits of better quality should ring 
the changes. All through the summer a slight surprise 
and pleasure comes at the end of a little dinner if a 
buttonhole of sweet-smelling flowers and leaves are 
carefully tied up (fine wire does them the least clumsily) 
and dropped into the water in the finger-bowls. Nothing 
should be used but what is really sweet — Lemon- 
scented Verbena and Geranium leaves being the prin- 
cipal foundation ; and in summer there ought always to 
be plenty of these two in the smallest gardens. 

I think it may be a little amusement or help to some 
of you if I make a list of a few of my dinner-table 
decorations during the six months in the country : — 

Ap~il. — White Allium with greenhouse Asparagus, 
red Geranium in low vases between, with no green. 
Various spring flowers and blossoms arranged, each 
separate, in small narrow-necked vases, having the effect 
of a miniature spring garden. 

May. — A Japanese arrangement of Clematis montana 
and greenhouse Asparagus. Parrot Tulips in narrow 
glasses all about the table. Pink ivy-leaved Geranium, 
called Souvenir of Charles Ttirner, in a large flat glass in 
the middle, and a pretty pink Pelargonium all round. 
Oriental Poppies, no green. In the middle an arrange- 
ment of German Iris of four or five different shades. 
Perennial herbaceous Lupins, white and blue, with their 
own lovely leaves ; they must never be allowed to 



OCTOBER 193 

droop, but go at once into water. Lilies of the Valley 
and Narcissus poeticus. Narcissus poeticus and Stachys 
lanata. 

June. — Iceland Poppies (three colours), Cornflowers, 
and London Pride ; no green ; very pretty, like a French- 
woman's bonnet. Herbaceous Peonies, white and pale 
pink. Lilium thunbergiammi and green. Gloire de 
Dijon Eoses floating in water in flat vases, and green- 
house Maidenhair Fern. Mrs. Sinkins Pink and Gypso- 
phila elegans. Gypsophila and pink Shirley Poppies. 
Yellow Snapdragons and Gypsophila; this was pretty 
and uncommon. Mixed Eoses. White Madonna Lilies 
with various white flowers, and pale green, 

July. — Yellow French Daisy and Gypsophila panicu- 
lata. Small vases with blue Campanula turhinata. Calceo- 
laria amplexicaule. Gypsophila paniculata, Nasturtiums, 
and leaves of variegated ground Ivy. Clematis (Travellers' 
Joy) trained up a Bamboo in the middle, wedged. 
Mixed Carnations and Gypsophila paniculata. Carnation 
(Lady Agnes) with own green, or from Mrs. Sinkins. 

August. — White Sweet Pea and Gypsophila paniculata. 
Branches of the Everlasting Pea laid on the tablecloth. 
Salpiglossis and Gypsophila paniculata. Sweet Geranium 
leaves and pink Ivy-leaved Geranium (Souvenir of Charles 
Turner). 

September. — Eed Virginia Creeper leaves and 
Geranium (Henry Jacoby). Single Helianthemums and 
Carrot leaves of various shades. Eed Virginia Creeper 
leaves, Nasturtiums, and a large tray in the middle piled 
up with fruit — apples, pears, peaches, grapes, &c. 

October. — Single Dahlias and Venetian Sumach. 
Greenhouse Chrysanthemums. 

October SOth. — It is an excellent plan, if you have a 
very sunny window that you are glad to have shaded in 

o 



194 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

the summer and not in winter, to put two bars of wood 
like a bracket out from the wall as a support for one long 
bar; or if your window is high, and so requires more 
width to shade it, have two, or even three, bars across 
the top. You plant on one side a Vine or a Wistaria, 
and train it over this kind of wooden eyebrow. If j'^ou 
have a Wistaria, the flowers hang through in spring ; if 
you have a Vine, the little bunches of grapes hang 
charmingly along the top of your window in autumn. In 
both cases the branches become quite bare at the first 
frost, and so your room is not shaded at a wrong time 
of year. I think this method of growing certain plants 
usually grown against walls will please many plant- 
loving people. 

I have been so often asked about London gardens, 
and in two cases have taken real and active interest in 
them — one a small square piece of ground behind an old 
house in Westminster ; and another much larger, very 
near the Addison Eoad Station. In all cases in and near 
London I say, emphatically, ' Avoid evergreens.' They get 
black and miserable, and look horrid, even in winter; 
though, if syringed and pruned, I think both Aucuba and 
Box, and especially the latter, might be kept clean and 
flourishing, and even prove useful for picking. Ivy, too, 
on a w^all facing north is often preferable to the bare 
wall. I have said a great deal in August against 
growing Virginia Creeper and Ampelopsis veitchii, 
because of its spoiling and hiding beautiful old houses ; 
but in London, and where we want to hide, they are the 
most useful and, indeed, invaluable Creepers that can be 
planted. They have every merit, are quick growers in 
any soil, graceful if pruned and cared for, and yet doing 
well if left alone. Their growth in the spring and early 
summer is full of beauty, and in London they hasten to 
lose their leaves without colouring them. 



OCTOBER 195 

On the back of a house my parents built in '41, in 
Rutland Gate, was planted, I think, the first Virginia 
Creeper I ever remember in London. In those days 
beyond this house it was all fields and nursery gardens. 
London was not then quite so black as it is now — not in 
that part, at any rate. I well remember the beauty and 
glory of this Virginia Creeper, It was never pruned, 
and hung from top to bottom of the house in lovely 
masses of falling foliage. Virginia Creepers, like many 
other things, vary a little in their growths ; one that 
has its leaves out early in the spring is the best for 
London. The Ampelopsis is prettier for being very 
much starved, as the leaves keep smaller, and less like 
the redundant growth at Boston, which I so condemned 
before. But on the whole, even for London, I prefer the 
growth of the common Virginia Creeper. 

Autumn effects need never be thought of in London 
at all. When people come back to the West End, after 
the holidays, it is nearly winter. The poor leaves, choked 
and smothered in soot, have fallen sadly and greyly to 
the ground, leaving all their autumn glory to their more 
fortunate country brethren ; and all can be swept clean 
and tidy before anyone comes back. Amongst deciduous 
shrubs all the ordinary common ones do very well, 
and only want attention and pruning, and pulling-off of 
suckers, as the same plants require in the country. 
Privets, being half-deciduous, do very well also. Bamboos 
are useless, as they are never in full beauty, even in the 
country, till the autumn and winter. In all small gardens 
it is my advice to avoid turf, and especially in London. 
It never looks well, and is expensive and troublesome to 
maintain, which is one reason the day-gardener likes it. 
Have as wide a border all round the wall as you can 
afford, and some red gravel or a bricked or tiled square in 
the middle of the garden to sit on. 

o2 



196 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Have a sunk tub, in the sun, under a tap, from which 
to fill a watering-pot, to water more delicate things ; and 
do not hose too much, especially if your soil is damp, 
except in very warm weather. On the walls have Bibes 
sanguineum and Forsythias, as they flower very early. 
Vines and Fig-trees, white Jasmine, and Jasminum nucli- 
florum, all do well in London. Wherever there is room 
on the walls facing south put the deciduous Magnolias 
{sec ' English Flower Garden '). The Magnolia grandi- 
jiora has such polished and very shiny leaves ; it grows 
very well near London. I remember some very fine 
plants of the same that used to grow in gardens at 
Walham Green and Fulham, where in my youth people 
gave what are now called garden-parties and used then 
to be called ' Breakfasts ' — why, I do not know, as they 
never began till three o'clock in the afternoon. Perhaps 
the French refugees brought in the fashion of such enter- 
tainments, full of the recollections of the d&jeun6 chami^etre 
of Louis XV. and Louis XVI. and their Courts. 

I know a Magnolia in Addison Eoad — I think it must 
be a M. conspicua — that, though crowded up and appa- 
rently neglected, flowers most beautifully every spring, 
nearly as well as the famous one which is such a marked 
ornament every year in the Champs Elys6es. A Forsythia 
at the corner of Marlborough House garden in the early 
spring has often excited my admiration. I quote these 
examples to show that plants will grow and flower in 
London still, if well chosen and cared for. 

For the borders, I recommend no edging ; it is ex- 
pensive and useless. The gravel is enough ; and it is, 
I think, prettier to disguise the fact of a line than to 
accentuate it. Plant what you have in bold clumps — 
the tall plants, of course, at the back ; but rather in waves 
of height, with bays of the front low-growing things, 
running back towards and under the wall. Anything 



OCTOBER 197 

looks better than a row of plants all the same, or nearly 
the same, height. There are the line of the wall and the 
line of the path. Your object must be, not to repeat these, 
but to work into your border that which makes either 
beautiful form or beautiful colour, or both at the same 
time. Do not repeat your clumps over and over again. 
For instance, if you have a good number of German Irises 
(many of which grow admirably in London), put them into 
two large groups — one facing east or south (which is the 
best) and the other facing north or west. In this way 
you may hope for a succession, an object that anyone 
who plants for flowering reasons ought never to have out 
of their mind. Spanish Irises would, I believe, do very 
well in a London garden if planted every year in a sunny 
corner in October. They are not expensive (see cata- 
logues). Buy no double or even single Dutch Hyacinths ; 
they are not worth it. They last a very short time, are 
often injured by the weather, and can be seen in the 
Parks in mournful and irritating regularity and perfection. 
Buy Snowdrops, Crocuses, Scillas {see ' English Flower 
Garden '), especially S. hispanica, blue, white and pink 
(though the pink one is rather the least pretty), S. bifolia, 
S. sibirica, S. italica, and our own common Blue-bells 
(Wood Hyacinths), S. nutans. I think the only real 
Hyacinth worth trying would be the early Eoman. The 
only seed I would recommend sowing in place is 
Mignonette, and that would want watering. For all other 
annuals, and many other things that are not annuals, I 
would pocket my gardening pride and act in the follow- 
ing manner : — In April, and again in May, make out from 
the books a short or long list of plants, those common 
things that you would like to have, which flower early. 
Send or go to Covent Garden, taking a basket with you, 
and buy the seedlings there two or three inches high ; 
bring them back, plant them at once, and water them 



198 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

and watch them. Plants are just hke children ; it is a 
keen, watchful, ever-attentive, thoughtful eye they require 
—not, figuratively speaking, pulling up by the roots to see 
how they are getting on. If you cannot go to Covent 
Garden, go to the nearest nurseryman, and try and get 
there what you want. I would buy Daisies, Forget-me- 
nots, Violas, Pansies, common Marigolds, Nasturtiums, 
blue Lobelias, Geraniums, Sweet Verbenas — in fact, 
nearly all the things you see. Only make notes year by 
year as to what does best, and try to learn for yourself 
what likes full sun and what likes half-shade, and what 
can be planted in April and what not till the end of May. 
I believe in this way a very bright London garden might 
be seen — during May, June, and July, at any rate — at a 
very small expense. 

Sowing your own seeds takes too long, and is too un- 
certain without a hot-bed. Do not put off planting all 
the hardy plants too late. London is warmer than the 
country, and your great object ought to be to get things 
early. All Pinks, Saxifrages (especially London Pride), 
Ferns, and all the hardy perennials you like to try, ought 
to be planted in October, at the same time as the bulbs. 
The Campanulas named in June would do well in small 
London gardens ; the shade of the walls and the moisture 
would suit them excellently. Perhaps they might want 
water, if the weather was very dry, to help them to flower. 

There are often a few cold nights at the end of May, 
when the icebergs are floating South — those wonderful, 
beautiful ice-mountains, once to have seen, never to be 
forgotten ; they have eight times their height below the 
water, and this keeps them straight as they float onwards, 
glittering in the sunshine. Beautiful as they are to those 
who see them, they are cruel destroyers of our poor un- 
certain spring weather. A very good plan on cold nights 
is to throw over your plants some newspapers, held dovn^ 



OCTOBER 199 

by stones ; or if you cover up some wicker or wire hen- 
coops with mushn, they will keep out five or six degrees 
of frost. These protections can be removed in tlie morn- 
ing. All spring- watering should be done in the morning, 
not in the evening ; and it is better to add a very little 
warm water than to use very cold water out of pipes. 
The handsomest, easiest-grown, hardiest, most useful 
plant for London gardens is the Polygonum mispidatum 
(there is a lovely drawing of it, by Mr. Alfred Parsons, in 
Mr. Eobinson's ' Wild Garden ') ; but its whole beauty and 
utihty, as I have said before, depends on taking up the 
suckers as they appear in early spring. Without that, the 
plant is a useless weed ; but treated as I recommend, I am 
sure no one can be disappointed with this strong-growing 
herbaceous plant. The larger-leaved kind, P. sacchali- 
nensis, is very good also, if you have room for both, 
but it has not quite such a beautiful up-standing and 
yet graceful growth. 

I think the Bocconia cordata would also do in London 
gardens, as it is a very handsome herbaceous plant, and 
comes to perfection early, throwing up its feathery blooms 
in July. None of the Primrose family are any good in 
London ; the leaves are too woolly. 

Do not allow the beds to be dug over or pulled 
about in the autumn ; it is a very bad plan. Consciously 
or unconsciously the man digs everything up, and I 
believe many a gardener thinks it is good for trade ! 

No Eoses are worth trying in or near London, though 
a few are growing in Holland House Gardens that look 
fairly healthy ; but that is a very large open space, and 
they are old-established bushes, which have been there a 
long time. I think that most beautiful shrub, Hv'/angea 
paniculata, might do well; it is best cut dc /n every 
March, and is such a beautiful thing. It likes a strong soil, 
but flowers rather late for those who leave London early. 



iqS POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

and watch them. Phints are just like children ; it is a 
keen, watchful, ever-attentive, thoughtful eye they require 
—not, figuratively speaking, pulling up by the roots to see 
how they are getting on. If you cannot go to Covent 
Garden, go to the nearest nurseryman, and try and get 
there what you want. I would buy Daisies, Forget-me- 
nots, Violas, Pansies, common Marigolds, Nasturtiums, 
blue Lobelias, Geraniunos, Sweet Verbenas — in fact, 
nearly all the things you see. Only make notes year by 
year as to what does best, and try to learn for yourself 
what likes full sun and what likes half-shade, and what 
can be planted in April and what not till the end of May. 
I believe in this way a very bright London garden might 
be seen — during May, June, and July, at any rate — at a 
very small expense. 

Sowing your own seeds takes too long, and is too un- 
certain without a hot-bed. Do not put off planting all 
the hardy plants too late. London is warmer than the 
country, and your great object ought to be to get things 
early. All Pinks, Saxifrages (especially London Pride), 
Ferns, and all the hardy perennials you like to try, ought 
to be planted in October, at the same time as the bulbs. 
The Campanulas named in June would do well in small 
London gardens ; the shade of the walls and the moisture 
would suit them excellently. Perhaps they might want 
water, if the weather was very dry, to help them to flower. 

There are often a few cold nights at the end of May, 
when the icebergs are floating South — those wonderful, 
beautiful ice-mountains, once to have seen, never to be 
forgotten ; they have eight times their height below the 
water, and this keeps them straight as they float onwards, 
glittering in the sunshine. Beautiful as they are to those 
who see them, they are cruel destroyers of our poor un- 
certain spring weather. A very good plan on cold nights 
is to throw over your plants some newspapers, held down 



OCTOBER 199 

by stones ; or if you cover up some wicker or wire hen- 
coops with muslin, they will keep out five or six degrees 
of frost. These protections can be removed in tlie morn- 
ing. All spring- watering should be done in the morning, 
not in the evening ; and it is better to add a very little 
warm water than to use very cold water out of pipes. 
The handsomest, easiest-grown, hardiest, most useful 
plant for London gardens is the Polygonum cusindatum 
(there is a lovely drawing of it, by Mr. Alfred Parsons, in 
Mr. Eobinson's ' Wild Garden ') ; but its whole beauty and 
utihty, as I have said before, depends on taking up the 
suckers as they appear in early spring. Without that, the 
plant is a useless weed ; but treated as I recommend, I am 
sure no one can be disappointed with this strong-growing 
herbaceous plant. The larger-leaved kind, P. sacchali- 
■nensis, is very good also, if you have room for both, 
but it has not quite such a beautiful up-standing and 
yet graceful growth. 

I think the Bocconia cordata would also do in London 
gardens, as it is a very handsome herbaceous plant, and 
comes to perfection early, throwing up its feathery blooms 
in July. None of the Primrose family are any good in 
London ; the leaves are too woolly. 

Do not allow the beds to be dug over or pulled 
about in the autumn ; it is a very bad plan. Consciously 
or unconsciously the man digs everything up, and I 
believe many a gardener thinks it is good for trade ! 

No Eoses are worth trying in or near London, though 
a few are growing in Holland House Gardens that look 
fairly healthy ; but that is a very large open space, and 
they are old-estabUshed bushes, which have been there a 
long time. I think that most beautiful shrub. Hydrangea 
paniculata, might do well; it is best cut down every 
March, and is such a beautiful thing. It likes a strong soil, 
but flowers rather late for those who leave London early. 



200 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Lilies of the Valley do very well in London if planted under 
a wall ; facing east is the best position, and they should 
be left alone. Most of the hardy Lilies would thrive if 
planted in October, especially the scarlet Lily, Lilium chal- 
cedonicum, which flowers early. One reason why London 
gardens do so badly very often is that they are neglected 
in September and October. Wallflowers are best planted 
in September; and I am afraid many beginners fail to 
realise what are annuals and what are not, and the 
greater the difiiculties the greater the care necessary. I 
saw once in a review of an American book on gardening 
that the late springs and the early heat in parts of 
America made the growing of many of the larger annuals 
a great difiiculty, as they could not be sown out of doors 
early enough. The reviewer quoted the author of the 
book's statement of how she ingeniously devised the follow- 
ing method : — Determined not to be beaten, she grew the 
single seeds in empty egg-shells stuck into boxes of sand ; 
when the time came for planting, and the little seed had 
grown, the shell was just broken and the whole thing 
dropped into the ground where it was to grow. In this 
way she got Poppies, &c., to flourish — plants that will not 
bear moving at all, as a general rule. I mention this as 
an example of the whole spirit of gardening, a patient 
conquering of difficulties. Eiding on the crest of the 
wave that tries to submerge us is one of the phases of 
our existence that makes life most satisfactory and worth 
living, and it is the secret of all progress. If gardening 
were easy, even under favourable circumstances, we 
should none of us care to do it. 

It must strike everyone when driving through the 
streets of London in the summer how elaborately ugly is 
the planting of many of the vdndow-boxes. What seems 
to me to look best is to keep the flowers as distinct and as 
unmixed as possible. To set out plants that are not really 



OCTOBER 20I 

hardy before the end of May is waste of money, and gives 
me a feeling of unloving ignorance of plants which is as the 
murdering of the innocents to those who are fond of 
them. A pretty mixture is the yellow French Marguerite 
with two or three — according to the size of the box — little 
upright Cryptomeria jajyonicas, either in the middle or at 
each end of the box, according to the shape of the window. 
White French Daisies do just as well, if preferred. 
Calceolarias and white Daisies are also pretty. I have 
lived so little in London in the summer of late years that 
I am more prepared to criticise than to suggest. One 
day I saw outside a dining-room window some large, 
heavy, oblong Japanese flower-pots planted with single 
plants, and they looked very well, as one was able to see 
the growth of the plants. These Japanese pots are glazed, 
and much thicker than the ordinary flower-pot, and thus 
lessen evaporation and the risk of being blown over. No 
plants can possibly succeed on balconies or windows in 
ordinary English flower-pots unless they are sunk in 
boxes or other pots as a protection from the sun and 
wind. 



202 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



NOVEMBEB 

Letting in the autumn sun— Jerusalem Artichokes— Hardy BambooB 
— Polygonum cnspidahim — Autumn flowers — Small Beech-trees 
— Last clay in the country — Some gardening books of this 
century. 

November 2nd. — I recommend hovisekeepers to take 
clown about the end of October all muslin curtains, silk 
blinds, &c., which shade the windows, only keeping such 
curtains as are drawn at night for warmth. The differ- 
ence it makes in the appearance of the room is very 
pleasant. In all manner of ways possible— in our house 
and gardens, in our cooking and dress — the adapting our- 
selves as well as we can to the changing seasons is 
sensible and desirable ; it gives point and variety to 
existence, especially for those who live most of the year 
in one place. In the case of the south windows in our 
sitting-rooms the pouring-in of the low winter sun is 
delightful — ' le soleil de Saint Martin,' as the French play 
had it, comparing it to the love of an old man, ' qui 
echauffe et ne brille pas.' It is only just now we enjoy 
this very low sun. It is a gi-eat delight to watch the 
changing year, and how differently the sun affects the 
house and garden. In summer he shines high above our 
heads, beating and burning on the roof ; and in winter he 
bows and smiles at us just above the tree-tops. 

November Sth. — To-day we have had our first dish 
of preserved French Beans out of the salt pan, before 



NOVEMBER 203 

described ; and they are really delicious, just as if they 
had been freshly picked in August. 

I suppose everybody knows that Jerusalem Artichokes 
are much better if left in the ground and only dug up as 
they are wanted, though before hard frost they must be 
dug up and housed. This vegetable is amongst the most 
useful ones we have in the winter, as it can be cooked in 
such a great number of waj'S. It is one of the things 
much improved by growing from fresh seed, and not 
planting the old tubers over and over again. The 
Artichokes can be made into soup, can be put^e'd like 
Turnips, or fried in thin slices like Potato chips. ' Dainty 
Dishes ' has one receipt for cooking them. The only way 
in which they are not very good is the ordinary English 
way — plain boiled, with a floury butter sauce. The best 
way of all is att gratin, like the Maccaroni-cheese in ' Dainty 
Dishes ' ; only they require more sauce. Everything au 
gratin is very much improved by using half Parmesan, 
half Gruyere, and a very small piece of shallot. I used 
to think this plant, from its name ' Jerusalem ' being 
derived from the Italian Girasole, with its curious English 
amplification into ' Palestine Soup,' was perhaps the only 
Sunflower (Helianthus) that had not come from America, 
and might have been brought here by the Crusaders ; but 
all this is not the fact. It does come from America ; and 
a curious confirmation of the same is that the French 
name is Topinambour, a corruption of Topinambout, a 
native tribe in the Brazils, whence the plant comes. 

November 6th. — The last few days there has been 
quite a hard frost, and last night our garden thermometer 
registered ten degrees. This means, of course, death to 
everything not quite hardy ; and even the hardiest hang 
their heads, and flop their leaves and look dying, though 
we know it is only affectation, and that a steady rain, 
bearing in every drop heat from the tropics, will revive 



204 I'Or rOURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

many things again. I confess I like these sudden deaths 
in Nature. When the time comes, it is bettor that things 
should go, than linger on, as. they do in very mild autumns. 
Never ninco I have lived here have the berries oi the 
Pyracanthus and Holly been so fine; the latter are 
covered with berries. In old days they used to say it 
meant a cold winter and a providential providing of food 
for the birds. Now we say it moans a fine spring and a 
wet autumn, which is just what wo have had this year ; 
but a wet autumn may mean a cold winter. 

Novevibcr dtli. — One or two hardy Bamboos should 
be in all gardens, because of their appearance just now, 
apart from all other reasons. The ' English Flower 
Garden ' gives the best kinds, which must bo selected 
according to the size of the garden and the situation in 
whicli they are to be placed. They by no means require 
to be planted in wet places — in fact, I imagine it is that 
whicli kills them in winter — but a few catis of water 
daily in dry weather, at their quick-growing time of May 
and June, helps them very much to throw off sooner that 
shabby appearance in spring which is one of their draw- 
backs. Another drawback is that they live such a short 
time in water after they are picked. The Japanese have 
many devices for preserving thom ; the simplest of these 
is burning their ends in the fire before putting thom into 
water. This answers with many flowers. In a small 
garden, Bamboos look much better for thinning out every 
year ; and the long canes make very useful, tidy sticks for 
pot-plants. At this time of year, when all else is dying 
or dead, they are healthfully and luxuriantly green. I 
have found by experience that, if Bamboos are really 
injured by frost, it is best to cut them down entirely the 
following spring. It requires some courage to cut out 
the tall, well-grown canes ; but, once nipped by frost, they 
do not recover, and they make better plants the following 
year if cut right back. 



NOVEMBER 205 

It is well worth while for anyone walking round the 
kitchen garden in Novemher to pick the few remaining 
frost-bitten pods of the Scarlet Runners. When gathered 
and opened, what a treat of colour they display ! — recalling 
wet shells on the seashore, mottled and marked, and of 
a rich deep purple, and no two alike. 1 grow Scarlet 
Eunners singly, or two or three together, between the 
Apple-trees ; and it is a good plan, as they bear much 
better than when planted in rows in the open, and look 
much prettier. They creep up into the branches of the 
Apple-trees ; the growth is so light it does no harm, 
while it protects the late pods from frost. 

The dear, bare branches of my favourite Polygonum 
cusjndatum, here planted in a hole in the grass, look 
lovely now at this time of the year, red in the sunshine 
against a background of evergreens. I have now on the 
table before me — cold and grey as it is out of doors — 
Marigolds, Tea-rose buds (that are opening in the room, 
and looking so pretty with a shoot of their own brown 
leaves), Neapolitan Violets, some branches of small white 
Michaelmas Daisies, and of course Chrysanthemums — 
those autumn friends we are half tired of, and yet we 
could so little do without. Another striking feature in 
the garden just now are some small Beech-trees, quite 
small, grown and cut back as shrubs are pruned. In a 
soil where Beech-trees do not grow naturally, it is well 
worth while to have them in this way, because of their 
peculiarity of retaining on their branches the red dry 
leaves more than half through the winter, causing a 
distinct point of colour against the evergreen shrubs. 

Novemher lith. — This is my last day in the country, 
calm and warm. I eat my luncheon by the open window. 
All Nature is very, very still, the silence broken now and 
then by the chirp of a bird and the distant o'ow of a cock 
in some neighbour's yard ; the sky is pearly and grey, and 
soft light-grey mists hang about, just enough to show up 



2o6 IHVI' I'OURkI I'kOM A SUKRICY CARDICN 

tlio t^lory of HOtiKi aiitutnn himli or l(3af. in front of Uio 
window thofo are Horno litUo dfilicato leaves of ono of tho 
8hrul)l)y Hpii'i^aH, planted on purpoHo to shine, coral and 
gold, late in tho year. It docs not matter about its being 
planted in a choice bod, as its growth is not coarse; if it 
looks It, little dried up in HUtnrner, it is not noticed when 
all the (lowers are about. 'LMui dear little hhwM and white 
pigeons — 'Nuns,' they are called — with outspread wings, 
are Hying down to feed. Tlie flight of a ))igeon is so 
beautiful ; no wonder Dante iiinnortaiised it in the famous 
linos in the Paolo and Francesca episode. That old cynio, 
Yoltaini, used to say that Dante's fame would always 
grow, because he is so little read. 

As I sit and watch, the low ycillow winter sun bursts 
out, illuminating all things. To-morrow ho will not 
Hhine for me, as I shall bo in that horrid dark London, 

Ono oth(!r morbid little {)oem, appro])riate to this time 
of year, I think 1 must give you, for it used to be a groat 
favourite of mine in past days, before tlie (iheorfulness of 
old age came u])on me. if 1 ever knew who was the 
author, 1 have forgotten it now : - 

LA MKLANCOLTE 

Quo ni« (lifl-tu, inonio vonl d'uutonino — 

Mim'Tablo voiit, ? 
Toi (lout 111 cliiiiiHon douco tit iiu)notone 

JtidiM (■.liiu'iiiail taiil ? 

Tu iiio (IIh, li/^IiiH I (|u'am()ur ct jounoBBe 

M'oiit Tail loiii'H adidiix . . . 
F,t ilii foiKl (1(( lYuiKi MM (lot do tristesse 

M(i d(')l)()r(l(^ aMx youx ! 

Tu nio difi, troji bi<^n, ou lo aoMtior mt^no 

Quo I'osjjoir a tui . . . 
Et ton oliant pitoux, traduisuut uui poiuo, 

Tripio uion ouuui. 



NOVEMBER 207 

Co mal qui courbait sur mon foyer vido 

Moil front di'isoKi— 
Ta CDiiiplaiiito, vent, ct ton soulllo hnniido 

Mo I'ont rovolo ; 

Cast le mal des ans — o'est la nostalgie 

Dos printomps pordua : 
I'jt ton vioux retrain n'oat qu'inio ^•i6gio 

Sur CO qui n'cHt pluH I 

Modern Gardening- Books. Tn tho month of March 

r finishod iioliciiij^ tlio hookH in my poHHOHHioii up to the 
end of tho last century. 1 begin again with this century, 
and shall carry them down to tho present day. 

1803. (An Xr.) ' Le Jardin de la Malmaison.' By 
Ventenat. Illustrated by P. J. Redout6. In two folio 
volumes. This is one of my groat possessions- a hand- 
some book, sumptuously produced, as was likely to be 
at tin; tinu\ dedicated as it is to Madame iionaparte, just 
at the height of lier power and influence. The im|)liod 
flattery in tho dedication to her is as large and magnificent 
as tlui ])aper is Ixnxuiiful and the printing p(!rf(H;t. On 
tho title-page is a little motto in fialin, saying that if the 
praises of the woods are to be sung, the woods should bo 
worthy of the Consul. The book is an obvious imitation 
of Jacquin's ' Flora Schoenl)runnensis.' Thti ilhistrations 
are, I think, less artistic and certainly less sti-ong than 
Jacquin's. They are not hand-coloured, like his, but are 
very lino examples of the best and most delicate (then 
newly discovered) method of colour-printing. Tho reason 
why Redout6's work is artistically inferior to Jaccjuin's 
is, that in his delicate rendering of the, (lowering briu)ch 
ho always puts it exactly in the centres of the page, without 
reference to its size or growtli. The plates are at tho 
end of each volume, and the descriptive text, which is in 
French, at the beginning. Poor .Josephine I She was so 
fond of hor gardens ; and I am told iUcva is still an order 



2o8 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

preserved in our Admiralty that, when French ships were 
captured in the war, any plants or seeds that were on 
board for Madame Bonaparte were to be expedited. That 
was a gracious order ; and gardening in those days meant 
so much more than it does now. A flower blooming then 
was an interesting event all over Europe, and the gentle 
perfume of it rose and permeated through the smoke and 
din of the Napoleonic wars. Nevertheless, there always 
have been, and there always will be, those who would 
rather sing the old French rhyme : 

Jardiner ne m'amuse gu^re, 
Moi je voudrais faire la guerre. 

Eedout6, the artist, in this fine Napoleonic book plays 
only a secondary part to Ventenat : 

1805. (An XIV.) ' La Botanique de J. J. Rousseau, 
orn^e de soixante-cinq planches d'apres les peintures de 
P. J. Redoute.' Apparently Redouts brought out this 
book to please himself, for it is a reprint of Rousseau's 
* Elementary Letters on Botany to a Lady.' It has 
sixty-five such beautiful illustrative plates, exquisitely 
drawn and colour-printed like the last. Were ever such 
beautiful things done for those who wished to adapt 
natural flowers to chintzes, needlework, or wall-papers ? 
French artists, no matter of what school or of what 
period, always excel all others in the beauty of their 
actual draughtsmanship. Among these illustrations there 
is a very fine old-fashioned dark-red single Chrys- 
anthemum called Astre clc Chine : I have never seen any- 
thing in the least like it growing. The Daisy and the 
Dandelion, too — were they ever more beautifully or more 
sympathetically rendered ? Everything done is in honour 
of botany, nothing as a representation of a flower worth 
growing. The text is in French. 

My other Redout6 book is a very charming one, though 
my large octavo edition is, alas ! not the best, which is a 



NOVEMBER 209 

folio in three volumes. The title-page states that the 
drawings have been reduced, re-engraved, and coloured 
under the eye of Monsieur Eedoute, 1824. He had now 
become famous. The title is ' Les Eoses, par P. J. 
Eedoute, avec le texte par C. A. Thorry ' — the order of the 
artist and author being just reversed from that in the work 
of his early days, ' Le Jardin de la Malmaison.' The book 
begins with the following charming sentence : — ' Les 
pontes ont fond6 dans I'opinion les seules monarchies 
h6r6ditaires que le temps ait respect^es : le lion est 
toujours le roi des animaux, I'aigle le monarque des airs, 
et la rose la reine des fleurs. Les droits des deux 
premiers 6tablis sur la force et maintenus par elle 
avaient en eux-memes la raison suffisante de leur dur6e ; 
la souverainet6 de la rose, moins violemment reconnue 
et plus librement consentie, a quelque chose de plus 
flatteur pour le trone et de plus honorable pour les 
fondateurs.' 

Anyone who cares about Eoses ought to try and see 
thisJ)Ook at the Botanical Library of the Natural History 
Museum at South Kensington, as it is very full of sug- 
gestions. Had I a soil that suited Eoses, and room to 
grow them in, I should try and make a collection of the 
wild Eoses of the world and the roses figured by Eedout6 
in 1824, many of which I have never seen. The Banksia 
Eose, which now covers the walls all along the Eiviera, is 
here called Le Bosier de Lady Banks (wife of the botanist 
Sir Joseph Banks). There are Moss Eoses and China 
Eoses, and every form and kind of Eglantine ; but nothing 
larger or more double than the Cabbage Eose. The 
Malmaison Eose, though called after Josephine's garden, 
must have been a much later introduction. In fact, in 
1824 there were no Eoses and no Strawberries in our sense 
of the word. Even what is now called the Old Maiden's 
Blush is not in the book. The B. lucida, which I grow 

p 



2IO POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

successfully in Surrey (for it is easy of cultivation, and has 
a lovely foliage), the York and Lancaster, and the Centi- 
foUa are all in this book. Even my small edition I look 
upon as one of my chief treasures ; it is bound in an 
old-fashioned bright-green leather. I suppose few people 
have seen this book, otherv^^ise I cannot imagine hov? 
anyone has ever had the courage to publish the modern 
illustrated Eose books with pictures that look so coarse 
and vulgar in comparison with these delicate coloured 
prints. 

1804. 'Exotic Botany, by James Edward Smith, 
President of the Linnean Society ; figures by James 
Sowerby. Two volumes in one.' This book is, of course, 
an English one, but on the title-page is the following 
quotation from Eousseau's seventh ' Promenade.' I copy 
it, as it expresses the feeling of the times : — 

' II y a dans la botanique un charme qu'on ne sent 
que dans le plein calme des passions, mais qui suffit seul 
alors pour rendre la vie heureuse et douce : mais sitot 
qu'on y mele un motif d'int^rfet ou de vanit6 .... tout 
ce doux charme s'evanouit. On ne voit plus dans les 
plantes que des instruments de nos passions, on ne 
trouve plus aucun vrai plaisir dans leur 6tude. . . . On 
ne s'occupe que de systemes et de m6thodes ; matiere 
eternelle de dispute, qui ne fait pas connaltre une plante 
de plus .... de la les haines, les jalousies,' &c. 

I wonder if it will strike anyone on reading this that 
the sins of the botanist have been inherited in some degree 
by the modern gardener ? 

The book is dedicated to William Eoscoe of Liver- 
pool. Eare and interesting plants from all parts of the 
world are figured here, and many of them are uncommon 
to this day. Some are. familiar garden plants, such as 
Rosemary-leaved Lavender Cotton, which, the author 
Lells us, ' Clusius says he met with on the sloping sides 



NOVEMBER 211 

of some hills near Narbonne, in the year 1552, when 
travelling with his friend, the celebrated Eondeletius. 
from Carcassonne to Montpellier. It is said to grow in 
other parts of the South of Prance, as well as in Spain, 
<5hiefly on open hills near the coast. It bears our 
•climate in the open border, flowering, though very rarely, 
in August. We receive it from the Botanic Garden of 
Liverpool by favour of Mr. John Shepherd.' 

Such a passage, one of many, seems to stretch a 
hand across the centuries, and explains the kind of 
charm these old books have for those who like them. 
The plates are carefully drawn and well coloured. This 
book contains many plants from New Holland which 
must then have been rare ; some are noted as grown in 
gardens at Paddington, some as never having flowered 
in Europe at all. It is certainly an interesting book. 

1810. ' The Gardener's Kalendar,' by Walter Nicol. 
This is the earliest of my gardening directories, and it 
is not illustrated. It is an excellent little book, but one 
learns nothing from it except that nearly all we know 
now was known then. 

1810. ' A Small Family Herbal,' by E. J. Thornton, 
M.D., interesting as it claims to be illustrated by Thomas 
Bewick. The little woodcuts of plants and flowers are 
charming. The arrangement of the book is sensible and 
clear, and has, at the end of the medical part, some 
receipts for cvirrant wine, elder wine, &c. 

1812. 'A Family Herbal,' by Sir John Hill, M.D. 
The illustrations are coarse, and not well drawn, though 
hand-painted. It is a typical book of the day, when there 
were so many of the same kind. 

1812. ' The New Botanic Garden. Illustrated with 
133 plants, engraved by Sansom from the original 
pictures, and coloured with the greatest exactness from 
drawings by Sydenham Edwards.' There is considerable 

p 2 



212 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

boldness and character about these drawings of ordinary- 
garden plants and flowers, but the colour has changed 
on several of them. Like other books of the period, the 
flowers are illustrated and described in an absolutely 
chance and desultory way ; the only exception is when 
the authors confine themselves to one family, like 
Andrews' ' Heathery,' or Jacquin's ' Oxalises.' What is 
striking in all these books is the beautiful paper and 
printing. The drawing and painting are just beginning to 
decline. 

1814 (about). 'The Botanic Garden,' by B. Maund. 
I think this the most useful, from a modern gardener's 
point of view, of all the old books in my possession. 
Nothing approaches it for instructiveness in herbaceous 
plants till we get to Eobinson's ' English Flower Garden.' 
The complete set, consisting of sixteen volumes, is diffi- 
ciilt to find, though odd volumes or broken sets are often 
advertised. This lovely ' Botanic Garden ' is arranged 
on an entirely new system. It is purely gardening and 
botany, no medicine at all. The volumes are quarto, 
and the illustrated page is divided into four. Each 
square is filled with an illustration from a flowering 
plant every one of which — from the tallest Hollyhocks 
to the smallest Alpine — is drawn exactly the same size, 
to fill the space. This, to my mind, is a grave fault, 
continued to this day in flower illustration. 

In some of the old Dutch books which I have seen, 
but, alas ! do not possess, they had a plan of drawing the 
flowering branch, life size, in the middle of the page, with 
a small drawing in the corner representing the growth 
of the whole plant. This is a sensible and instructive 
method. I should like all flower illustration to be 
exactly the size of a fine specimen in Nature, quite 
regardless of filling or non-filling the page. To give a 
correct impression of the plant illustrated is very much 



NOVEMBER 213 

more important than attempting to make uniform or 
even artistic pictures. 

But to return to Maund. The letterpress follows the 
illustrations, one page to each plant, and the following 
characteristics are given above the drawing in every 
case: — (1) Name of country the plant comes from, (2) 
height, (3) when it flowers, (4) duration of plant, (5) when 
first cultivated. This gives, at a glance, a comprehensive 
idea of the plant. There are constant allusions through 
the book to Parkinson, Gerarde, and other old botanists. 
The earlier plates are far superior, better drawn, and 
more dehcately coloured than those in the later volumes. 
In the twenty-five years which were covered by the serial 
issue of this pubHcation the decline of flower-painting 
marched apace. 

1814. 'Flore M^dicale. D6crite par R P. Chaume- 

ton, Docteur en M6decine. Peinte par Madame E. P 

et par P. J. F. Turpin.' This is a lovely book in eight 
octavo volumes. The illustrations are most delicate and 
fine, and in the Eedout^ manner. He influenced all 
flower-painting at that time in Paris, professional as well 
as amateur. Flower-painting only ceased to be good 
when it was no longer considered the handmaid of 
botany and medicine, which necessitated quite a different 
order of merit and precision from what was required for 
mere flower illustration for gardening purposes. One of 
the useful and uncommon idiosyncrasies of this book is 
that at the top of each page describing the plate the 
name of the plant is given in seven European languages. 
The curative properties of various medicines are named, 
but there are, alas ! no cooking receipts. This is what 
is said about Cardoons, the vegetable so little used in 
England because the cooks do not know how to dress 
it:— 

'Le Cardon Cynara cardunculus dont les feuilles 



7t6 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

contain was constantly superseded by newer books ; 
faith in herbalism died out ; and the beautiful herbaceous 
plants were swept away from our gardens. I suppose 
I did not look out for these books, knowing nothing of 
them ; but I never saw one of them till I began to be 
interested in them and to collect them five or six years 
ago. 

1825. ' The Manse Garden,' which has long been 
out of print, I have. Canon Ellacombe praises it most 
warmly and justly at the end of his ' Gloucestershire 
Garden,' published last year. It has no name and no 
date, but he says it was written by the Eev. N. Patter- 
son, at that time — nearly seventy years ago — Minister of 
Galashiels and afterwards a leading member of the 
Scotch Free Kirk. ' It is altogether,' Canon Ellacombe 
adds, ' a delightful book, full of quaint sentences, shrewd 
good-sense, and quiet humour ; and the cultural directions 
are admirable.' This praise I entirely endorse. The 
chapter at the end, called ' The Minister's Boy,' is 
especially human, in the modern sense of the word. It 
is a modest, non-old-fashioned-looking little book, and is, 
I expect, to be found hidden away in many an old Scotch 
house. 

1825-1830. 'Cistineie: the Natural Order of Kock 
Eose,' by Eobert Sweet. This, once more, is a book 
entirely confined to one family, the extent of which is 
such a surprise to most of us. Who would have expected 
that there are thirty-five Cistuses, seventy-eight Heli- 
anthemums, and about a hundred Eock Eoses ? The 
drawings are good ; but the colouring, though still 
by hand, compares very badly with Eedout6's lovely 
Eose book. Cistuses are such charming plants, opening 
their papery blooms in the sunlight ; they do very well 
in the light Surrey soil, but very few of them are really 
hardy. Cistins laurifolius is hardy with me, and C. 



NOVEMBER 217 

^orentinus only dies in very severe winters. Mr. 
Eobinson gives a list of them, and they are such pretty 
little shrubs that they are well worth any trouble. The 
mixed Helianthomums (Sun Eoses) are best raised from 
seed, and it is very easy to keep any specially good ones 
from cuttings made in the summer, when they strike 
freely. I take potfuls of cuttings of the shrubby kinds 
every year as well, in case of accidents. There are several 
other books by Mr. Sweet, all of which must be well 
worth having. 

1826. ' The Gardener's Magazine,' conducted by J. C. 
Loudon. This publication, of which I have seventeen 
volumes, was, according to his biographer, Mr. Loudon's 
own favourite, into which he put the best of his ideas 
and work. It is only illustrated with small wood-cuts in 
order to explain the text, but is crammed with interesting 
information, well-arranged lists of plants, and descrip- 
tions of country houses, the culture of fruit and flowers, 
green-houses, and stoves. I repeat, the especial use of 
these older books is to help us to the knowledge and 
cultivation of non-hardy exotics — a subject which the 
great authority of the day, Mr. Eobinson, does not touch 
upon. They, however, require to be read with under- 
standing, as in Mr. Loudon's day gardeners were much 
more afraid than they are now of treating plants as 
hardy — the risk of losing them being then too great, 
whereas now it is only considered as being good for 
trade. In nearly all private gardens of the present day 
it is almost forgotten that plants can be easily repro- 
duced by layers, cuttings, and seeds. Modern gardening 
shares in the common fault of our generation, which is so 
prone to waste and to buy, rather than to produce. 

Mr. Loudon seems to have been an upright, hard- 
working and educated man, who was rather forced by 
ill-health into the life which he took up. There is an 



?t6 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

contain was constantly superseded by newer books ; 
faith in herbalism died out ; and the beautiful herbaceous 
plants were swept away from our gardens. I suppose 
I did not look out for these books, knowing nothing of 
them ; but I never saw one of them till I began to be 
interested in them and to collect them five or six years 
ago. 

1825. ' The Manse Garden,' which has long been 
out of print, I have. Canon Ellacombe praises it most 
warmly and justly at the end of his ' Gloucestershire 
Garden,' published last year. It has no name and no 
date, but he says it was written by the Eev. N. Patter- 
son, at that time— nearly seventy years ago — Minister of 
Galashiels and afterwards a leading member of the 
Scotch Free Kirk. ' It is altogether,' Canon Ellacombe 
adds, ' a delightful book, full of quaint sentences, shrewd 
good-sense, and quiet humour ; and the cultural directions 
are admirable.' This praise I entirely endoi'se. The 
chapter at the end, called ' The Minister's Boy,' is 
especially human, in the modern sense of the word. It 
is a modest, non-old-fashioned-looking little book, and is, 
I expect, to be found hidden away in many an old Scotch 
house. 

1825-1830. 'CistinejB: the Natural Order of Book 
Rose,' by Eobert Sweet. This, once more, is a book 
entirely confined to one family, the extent of which is 
such a surprise to most of us. Who would have expected 
that there are thirty-five Cistuses, seventy-eight Heli- 
anthemums, and about a hundred Rock Roses ? The 
drawings are good ; but the colouring, though still 
by hand, compares very badly with Redout6's lovely 
Rose book. Cistuses are such charming plants, opening 
their papery blooms in the sunlight ; they do very well 
in the light Surrey soil, but very few of them are really 
hardy. Ciskcs laurifolius is hardy with me, and C. 



NOVEMBER 217 

^orentinus only dies in very severe winters. Mr. 
Eobinson gives a list of them, and they are such pretty 
little shrubs that they are well worth any trouble. The 
mixed Helianthomums (Sun Eoses) are best raised from 
seed, and it is very easy to keep any specially good ones 
from cuttings made in the summer, when they strike 
freely. I take potfuls of cuttings of the shrubby kinds 
every year as well, in case of accidents. There are several 
other books by Mr. Sweet, all of which must be well 
worth having. 

1826. ' The Gardener's Magazine,' conducted by J. C. 
Loudon. This publication, of which I have seventeen 
volumes, was, according to his biographer, Mr. Loudon's 
own favourite, into which he put the best of his ideas 
and work. It is only illustrated with small wood-cuts in 
order to explain the text, but is crammed with interesting 
information, well-arranged lists of plants, and descrip- 
tions of country houses, the culture of fruit and flowers, 
green-houses, and stoves. I repeat, the especial use of 
these older books is to help us to the knowledge and 
cultivation of non-hardy exotics — a subject which the 
great authority of the day, Mr. Eobinson, does not touch 
upon. They, however, require to be read with under- 
standing, as in Mr. Loudon's day gardeners were much 
more afraid than they are now of treating plants as 
hardy — the risk of losing them being then too great, 
whereas now it is only considered as being good for 
trade. In nearly all private gardens of the present day 
it is almost forgotten that plants can be easily repro- 
duced by layers, cuttings, and seeds. Modern gardening 
shares in the common fault of our generation, which is so 
prone to waste and to buy, rather than to produce. 

Mr. Loudon seems to have been an upright, hard- 
working and educated man, who was rather forced by 
ill-health into the life which he took up. There is an 



-iK I'OT I'OUKKI I'kOM A SURKICY CAKDICN 

iiiLdn^rtliii;^ porLniit luul Mof^nipfiy of liiin in a litllo hook 
of liirt, puMiwliod aft(3rhiH (loath, (sailed ' Solf-IiiHtnicLioii for 
Yoiiii^; (lanlonorH.' Ah \h fni(|ii(5ni.ly Hk^ case, with tiic-ii 
whoHd wholci tiiitid in takoii tip with hoiiio ul).sorl)iii<^ 
irit()li(H!tiiii,l occupation, lio ti^i^hmtcid hin own nionny 
alTaiiM, ii.nd ii,t the tini(< of hin last iihu!Hs fio had to 
iiiako an ii,pp(m,l to liin ni;uiy fiicnds and adniirorH for 
fuiidrt to cnal)l(i him to pid)Iish liiw f^n^at work, wliicli 
haH not yet hocn HtiporHodcd, thouf^h it calJH for r(!-oditing, 
tho * Arhorotmn IJotanicuni,' of which more horoaftor. 
Mr. Iiondon diod on Dcccunhor M, IHL'I, hiiforo lie lieard 
of the kind way in which his frii'iidn had come forward 
and roHponded to th(i ii,pp(ial. IliK wife ntatoH thii,t h(i 
(hed on the amiiverHary of tfie death of Wanhinf^ton, tlum 
hidtinj; UH on hy ii.n alhision to oldrr tinuis, which hooui 
to UH HO vei-y loii^' a;.,'o. 

Th(^ Htory of MrH. hoiidon'n marriii,f.;e is ridJier inlicrertt- 
in^^. Ah a ;^irl (iH'jr)) hIic wi'ot(\ whnt nhe fiernelf (h^HcrilxiH 
an ' M, Htrani^'e, w(»ir(l novel,' iMilInd ' 'IMio Mummy' — 
perhaps the lirnt of the prophetic HtorioH that have hoon 
BO common in my time, the HC(niel)oinf» laid in the twenty- 
Hecond (Uiutury. Mr. London vvii,« Htruck hy a r(wievv of 
this hook, and rcMul it. It made Hu deep an ini[)reHHion 
on him that two or three years afterwards ho oxprossod 
to a fri(Uid his ^^ritat winh to know the author, whom ho 
helieved to he a man. An introduction waH hrouf^lit 
ahout, which in a short time resulted in their marriaf^e. 
They lived in a charminf^ house at nn,yswater, which was 
then (piit(^ in the country, and ' The (larderKM-'s Ma^a/,ine ' 
alotio hrou^hli him in TM)/. ii, year. Soon after their 
marria}.!;e they saw at (Chester, in IH3I, tho first tiumher 
of I'axton's ' Horticultural U(^gister,' tho oarliost rival to 
' ^riie (Jardeiier's Magazine,' which ^^riulually declined 
from lihat tini(\ and was f^ivun up immediatc^ly after Mr. 
l/oiidon's death. The impetus given hy Mr. Loudon's 



N()VI';mi;I';i< 219 

hookH iind |)(',ii()(lic,n,lM l,o lii,rMln(!ii,|)(5 f.;ii,i(lc,iiin{^ ii,ri<l |.;i(!(iii- 
hoUHO (!iiIliivii,liioii, lor- plciimirc, ii.rid hcMJiLy iiloiic, iumI for 
tho ornaJn()nl,ali(»n of Uic lioiiHdH of Uio wciilUiy, iiiiiiil, liiivo 
Ixton iiriiriotiii);. I'til. from UiiiL IJiiio Uio I)ooI(H aHHiiino(J 
iho dotj()rioni,ti(!<i clianuiLci- fioiii wlii<-,li tli'y lun only now 
l)(!{^ii)riing to ornor^d. (!Ii(;ii,|)(i(!Hh Ixicimhc a dciiirahlo 
ohjccL— (KiCCHHury fov Mic propaf^'aUoii of Uio iiiHl,iii<; 
fcioii. 'I'Imh i;liaii}.;() f^roaUy oofiancriH tlio inl/orcHt; and 
valu(j of LIkj oUhw l)ool<H. 'IUk! illiinl,iii,IJonH only Hcrvod 
k) uliiuidalo llio Icxd, ii.tid in iJif, caiu; of colon red plabts 
H(iV(!ral |)lafil)H w(»n! ofl/cn crrjwcJocJ into (hio J)ii,g() for Ifio 
Hal<(i of (;lir'.ii,pn(iHS in njprodiicl/ion. '^I'lin >.';ii,r(J<;n(ir waH 
no \(>i)i/<;r i\, l)oliii,niHl< )i,nd an atijiil,, hut. cniployttd inferior 
d»'aU{^[iLH)n(in to illnHUii,l;0 liiH itiHUucl.ionH. 

Tfio orij^inal dchi, on iJin ' Arhorcitinn," [MdjIinlHid jiiiil- 
aflior Mr. IjoncJon'H d(',ii,l,li, waa l(),()(K)/., wliicli iiocnin ;i, 
vciry largo Hurn, cofiHitJorin^^ fiow |)oor Uio illnHl,rat/ionM 
arcj. Jt) Ih a hook of innnoniK) uLuciy, (irciii itdjorcHly, ii,nd 
valuable inHlnjciion. 'I'ho work in in oi^-lil, volurnca f<;iir 
l(;t(/t)rf)r(jHH and four illuHlraLioriH. 

1842. ' IjadioH* Maj^a/ino of (iii,rdc,;iin(.%' hy Mni. 
lioudon, |)Nl)liHfi(!d jiiHt l)(ifr)ro Mr. London'H dcaUi, liai-i 
Honui rat-licr go<jd illnHi,rii,l/ionH of flowcrn, H(Mno cijrtaijdy 
not comrnordy grown now. Wliii,!, hIio cailn Uio (Joldon- 
hainjd Anfinionrj in cpjilo unluifjwn to rnn. 'I'Ihs illnntrio- 
tioriH for gardciiH and r(jc,Kworl< ii,r(i ciahoniUily <U'M(;n\)\,\vi; 
of all which nhould he jivoidcd ; hul, in <;v«;ry hot^k oii Uio 
|H!riod Ihoro in rfiucli IV;r Uio Htudcnt to learn. I''ii,ilin('_ 
inconio induced Mih. Loudon, »io douhL h<;lp(!d hy her 
oarly efforts in literature, to puhliwh hookH on gardrijiing 
for the UHO of arnateurH. Whriri nUa ji,nd her little 
daughter wore left V(;ry hadly off, Iwir eliortH aHHurrKjd a 
more affd)itiouH li/i<;. 

Th<j firHt edition of 'The LiuJy'B CJon)()iUii(jn,' which I 
have, waH puhlibhod hy William Hrnith in IHII. Jt in a 



2 20 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

delightful little book, alphabetically arranged, with a few 
useful illustrations, light to hold, and beautifully printed. 
It always mentions the country from which the plant or 
flower comes, and it often suggests, most usefully, the 
soil or locality whei-e the plants do best in England. 
This is a point too often omitted in modern gardening 
papers. The book was afterwards enlarged. It went 
through several editions, and had many imitators. Mrs. 
Loudon's earlier books are often to be picked up, very 
cheap, at secondhand shops, and I strongly recommend 
all ladies interested in gardening to buy them whenever 
they can lay their hands on them, either for themselves 
or to give away. It is not that they are really better for 
the advanced student than the modern books, but that they 
are more simple. They begin more from the beginning, 
they teach more what amateurs require, and they ai-e not 
complicated with the immense variety whicli in modern 
books and catalogues diives unfortunate young gardeners 
to despair. A good deal of this applies as well to the many 
imitators and humble pupils of the Loudons' school who 
published between 1840 and 1850. One book I have is 
called ' Every Lady her own Flower Gardener,' by Louisa 
Johnson (seventh edition !), published by W. S. Orr, 1846. 
Any lady with a small villa garden would find most useful 
instruction in this little manual. The gardening matter 
in aU the books of this time is excellent ; whei'e they fail, 
like the Loudons themselves, is that they are permeated 
with that early Victorian taste now thought so execrable 
— baskets and vases, summer-houses and seats, are all 
tortured into frightful ' rustic ' shapes. The planting and 
laying-out of grounds are equally bad ; they constantly 
recommend both kinds of Laurels, which time has taught 
us are the most destructive of plants, killing all other 
shrubs in their neighbourhood with their insolent and 
devouring roots. 



NOVEMBER 221 

Those who have larger gardens would do well to try 
and get Mrs. Loudon's six quarto volumes, illustrated 
with coloured pictures. Though artistically bad as 
flower-paintings, and inferior to those published now in 
the weekly gardening papers, they resemble the flowers 
enough to be recognisable. They most usefully illus- 
trate the text for the ignorant amateur, who learns far 
more quickly when pictures and letterpress are com- 
bined than by any written instruction alone, however 
good. 

Mrs. Loudon's quarto volumes are now rather 
diflScult to get complete. There are two volumes on 
perennials, one on annuals, one on bulbs ; this one is 
perhaps the most valuable of the lot, as it gives many of 
the best-known bulbs as they arrived from the Cape, 
before they were so over-cultivated and hybridised by the 
modern nurseryman. Perhaps the volume on greenhouse 
plants is the least interesting, as so many things are re- 
commended for cultivation under glass which have since 
been proved to be hardy, or nearly so, and grow very 
well out of doors — at any rate, through the summer 
months. The volume on English wild flowers, which 
completes the set, is a little superficial, but helpful. It 
has rather good pictures of many of our native plants, 
some of which are now very rare. The best of these 
wild flowers can be cultivated from seed, even in small 
gardens, giving us most beautiful effects with very 
little trouble and expense. 

1828. ' M^moires du Mus^e d'Histoire naturelle.' 
1834. ' M6moires sur quelques Especes de Cact^es.' 
These are portions of two books with most beautiful 
and curious illustrations of Cactuses, the only examples 
of old botanical drawings of Cactuses I have been able up 
to now to procure. They are not coloured, but delicate 
and precise in drawing to a high degree. 



222 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

1829. ' A History of English Gardening — Chronological, 
Biographical, Literary, and Critical — Tracing the Progress 
of the Art in this Country from the Invasion of the 
Eomans to the Present Time,' by George W. Johnson. 
This little book is so comprehensive in subject that it 
is rather dry reading, though Mr. Johnson's introductory 
chapter abounds in interesting information about the 
gardens and vegetable cultivation of the ancients. Cato's 
description of the cultivation of Asparagus is very much 
the same as v^hat is now recommended. Gardening, at 
no time in the world's history, seems in any way to have 
been the especial property of the good and simple, in 
whose hands alone ' it is the purest of human pleasures.' 
To sit about gardens in summer sunshine, to listen to the 
birds, and to enjoy the scent of the flowers cultivated by 
others may be very enjoyable, but in no sense does it 
deserve to be called ' the purest of human pleasures.' No 
one who does not actually work in his own garden can 
ever really realise the pleasure of having one, and the 
enjoyment of a garden entirely worked by others is merely 
a form of idleness and luxury. The title does not 
accurately describe the book, as the gardens of the 
ancients are confined to the introduction, and the history 
of English gardening begins only from the accession of 
Edward III. The main part of it is a detailed account 
of all the books that have been written on the art of 
gardening. Mr. Johnson most critically describes the 
letterpress of gardening books, but very little notice 
indeed is taken of any iUustrating, and when he reaches 
Curtis's beautiful ' Flora Londinensis ' he gives it no more 
praise than to any little short ga,rdening essay that 
may have appeared at the time. iVnyone going to the 
Museum Library with this comprehensive catalogue 
would have but a slight idea of what are the best books 
to ask for. Till the appearance of Miss Amherst's 



NOVEMBER 223 

book in 1895, I believe this was the only existing book of 
reference on the history of English gardening. 

1830. ' On the Portraits of English Authors on Gar- 
dening, with Biographical Notices,' by S. Felton. A 
curious and really valuable book of reference. Mr. 
Felton, in his preface, pays high tribute to the ' History 
of English Gardening,' just described, and says : ' Mr. 
Johnson's work is the result of original thought and of 
an ardent and extended scientific research. Mine is a 
compilation " made with a pair of scissors," to copy the 
words of Mr. Mathias, which he applies to a certain 
edition of Pope. I content myself, however, with the 
reflection of Mr. Walpole, that " they who cannot perform 
great things themselves may yet have a satisfaction in 
doing justice to those who can." ' This reminds me of the 
flippant newspaper critic who called Sir George Cornewall 
Lewis's ' Influence of Authoi'ity in Matters of Opinion ' ' a 
book to prove that, if you did not know a thing, you 
should ask some one who did.' There is a delightful 
wisdom in this remark. 

1830 (about). ' The Florist's Journal and Gardening 
Eecord.' I have two volumes of this publication. The 
plates are well drawn and coloured, and are more delicate 
than those in Mrs. Loudon's books. One volume con- 
tains a fascinating picture of that rather rare flower, 
which I have failed as yet to bloom, called Zauschneria 
californica. The two volumes are good specimens of 
the books of the period. 

1834. ' The Magazine of Botany,' by Joseph Paxton. 
In this year the intelligent gardener at Chatsworth started 
his ' Magazine of Botany,' which was finished in 1849. 
I have the complete set of sixteen volumes. The first 
volume contains a somewhat fulsome and yet touchingly 
hearty dedication to his master, the Duke of Devonshire. 
Each of the succeeding volumes are dedicated to more or 



224 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

less exalted members of the peerage — some men, some 
women. The 'Magazine' to this day is interesting, 
useful, and full of instruction as regards the cultivation 
of desirable and uncommon greenhouse and stove plants. 
The title-page is quite simple. Evidently the fashion for 
adornment, allegorical or otherwise, hitherto so much in 
use, seems to have entirely died away, and plainness 
rules the day. The page has nothing on it but the title 
and the famous Bacon quotation, which can never be too 
often repeated : ' God Almighty first planted a garden, 
and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures : it is the 
greatest refreshment to the spirit of man, without which 
buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks ; and a 
man shall ever see that, when ages grow to civility and 
elegance, men come to build stately sooner than to garden 
finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection.' 

Bacon is delightfully solemn, but one cannot help 
remembering Adam found it so very dull till Eve came 
that he even sacrificed a rib for the sake of a com- 
panion. 

There is a sad falling-off in the plates, both wood-cuts 
and coloured ones, though they are executed by different 
people, and some are much better than others. Paxton 
must have studied hard, as he constantly refers to the 
older books. What is of chief interest about him is that 
he was the greatest unconscious instrument in the move- 
ment he helped to develop, which altered the gardening 
of the whole of England, and consequently of the world. 
He used the old patterns of Italy and France for designs 
of beds, filling them, as had never been done before, with 
cuttings of tender exotics, which were kept under glass 
during the whole winter. Endless sums of money were at 
his disposal, and everything was done which could facilitate 
his efforts to make the terraces of Chatsworth a blaze 
of colour during the months of August and September, 



NOVEMBER 225 

the months when his master came from town. From 
his point of view this was a most praiseworthj'- object, 
and no doubt gave great satisfaction. It was copied, for 
the same reasons, by most of the great houses in England. 
But what was really unfortunate, and can only recall the 
old fable of the ox and the frog, was the imitation of this 
system in all the gardens of England, down to the half- 
acre surrounding a vicarage, or the plot of ground in 
front of a suburban residence. The ox, as we know, was 
big by nature ; and when the frog imitated him, it was 
flattering to the ox, but the frog came to grief. So I 
think to this day, if bedding-out is ever tolerable, it is on 
the broad terraces facing large stone houses, with which 
we have nothing to do here. Where it becomes in- 
tolerable, and perhaps it is hard to blame Paxton for this, 
is in the miniature Chatsworths, with their little lawns 
and their little beds, their Pelargoniums — often only 
coloured leaves, like the Mrs. Pollock — their dwarf Calceo- 
larias, their purple Verbenas, and their blue Lobelias ; 
where the lady is not allowed to pick, and where the 
gardener, if he is masterful and gets his own way, turns 
the old herbaceous border in front of the house into that 
terrible abomination called ' carpet-bedding.' Paxton 
was a very remarkable man in his way. When taken up 
by the Queen and the Prince Consort, he built in 1851 
that wonderful and ever-to-be-remembered glass case, 
in Hyde Park, the first general International Exhibition, 
which enclosed two large elms. Poor trees ! how they 
hated it ! Their drooping autumnal appearance is my 
strongest childish remembrance of that Exhibition. 
Paxton was knighted by the Queen, and partly built the 
Crystal Palace at Sydenham with the remains of the 
Hyde Park Exhibition. 

1835. Culpepper's ' Complete Herbal.' A republica- 
tion of his original ' Epistle to the Eeader ' is d^ted from 

Q 



228 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

name of the "Evergreens," to commemorate the bnth 
of his daughter, afterwards CaroHne, Duchess of Mai'l- 
borough ; it was something more than one hundred 
acres, and was, before that time, a rabbit-warren, pro- 
ducing nothing but a few blades of grass, with the heatli 
or Hng indigenous to the soil, and without a single tree 
upon it. 

' In the course of a few years the Duke perceived 
that the plantation required thinning, in order to admit a 
free circulation of air, and give health and vigour to the 
young trees. He accordingly gave instructions to his 
gardener, and directed him as to the mode and extent of 
the thinning required. The gardener paused, and hesi- 
tated, and at length said, " Your Grace must pardon me 
if I humbly remonstrate against your orders, but I 
cannot possibly do what you desire ; it would at once 
destroy the young plantation, and, moreover, it would be 
seriously injurioiis to my reputation as a planter." 

' My grandfather, who was of an impetuous and 
decided character, but always just, instantly rephed, " Do 
as I tell you, and I will take care of your reputation." 

' The plantation, which ran for nearly a mile along 
the road leading from the market town of Woburn to 
that of Ampthill, was, consequently, thinned according 
to the instructions of ihe Duke of Bedford, who caused a 
board to be fixed in the plantation, facing the road, on 
which was inscribed, " This plantation has been thinned 
by John, Dvike of Bedford, contrary to the advice and 
opinion of his gardener." ' 

1843. 'Flora Odorata: a Characteristic Arrangement 
of the Sweet-scented Flowers and Shrubs cultivated in 
the Gardens of Great Britain,' by Frederick T. Mott. A 
useful, suggestive, little book, and the only one on the 
subject that was ever printed, I believe, till the appearance 
of a book in 1895, ' Sweet-scented Flowers and Fragrant 



NOVEMBER 229 

Leaves,' by Donald McDonald. This last often gives the 
name of one scented variety in a perfectly scentless 
family, such as the Camellia. C. drupifera has scented 
flowers. I observe that the very faintest odour justifies 
the inclusion of some plants in both these books. 

1846. ' Flowers and their Associations,' and ' The 
Field, Garden, and Woodland,' by Anne Pratt. I have 
none of Anne Pratt's books except this curious little one, 
given me off a Christmas-tree, by a serious old uncle, because 
I was fond of flowers, when I was a child. It is roughly 
illustrated, and contains much desultory information. 

1848. ' The Eose Garden,' by WiUiam Paul. This is 
a most interesting publication as regards plant growth, 
increased variety, and the utter collapse and deteriora- 
tion of the art of illustrating. Viewed by the light of 
Eedoute's Eose book, it is like turning from a Greek 
goddess to the stoutest of matrons. The poor Eose ! — 
it has swelled and amplified under cultivation to a 
despairing degree ; but the execution of the plates is 
answerable for much, no doubt. We have now the 
figure of the Bourbon Eose, called ' Souvenir de la 
Malmaison.' Eoses have increased apace in the quarter 
of a century since Eedout6 painted them, but many of 
the Eoses in this book are now called old-fashioned. 
The plans and instructions for Eose gardens are not what 
are now admired, and, one would say ai-e singularly 
unsuited to the spreading wild growth of healthy Eoses. 

1854. ' A History of British Ferns,' by Edward 
Newman. Enthusiastic gardeners in the 'Fifties gave 
a great deal of time and attention to Ferns. Now, 
people wisely do not attempt them where they will not 
grow. My other Pern book, published in 1868, is ' Select 
Ferns and Lycopods, British and Exotic,' by B. S. 
Williams. A useful book, as Fern-growing in stoves and 
greenhouses will always be well worth while. 



230 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

(No date, but I imagine in the 'Fifties.) ' Profitable 
Gardening : a Practical Guide,' by Shirley Hibberd. A 
nice old book, full of clear instruction and practical 
hints. Books of this description are often to be picked 
up on old bookstalls, and are very helpful, as being the 
A B C to more advanced modern books. 

1855. ' Flora of the Colosseum of Eome,' by Richard 
Deakin, M.D., with a print of the ruins of the Colosseum 
before the days of photography. I bought this book, I 
must confess, out of pm-e sentiment, as it is too strictly 
botanical to suit my ignorance. I spent a w^inter in Rome 
when I was a little girl, and the vegetation which grew 
all over the Colosseum, both plants and flowers, was 
deeply impressed on my mind. I never saw Eome again 
till about twelve years ago, when the scraped and tidy 
appearance of the Roman ruins, though no doubt necessary 
for their preservation for posterity, struck a cruel blow at 
my youthful recollections. This curious little book gives 
the botanical description of 420 plants growing spon- 
taneously on the ruins of the Colosseum at Eome. The 
record of this absolutely vanished vegetation has, I 
think, a touch of poetry of its own which can better be 
felt than expressed. The book has some little architec- 
tural illustrations of no great merit. 

1855. ' Beautiful-Leaved Plants,' by E. J. Stone. 
This is a book rather interesting to the collector, and 
illustrative of a peculiarly bad period. Its quotations 
and general appearance are rather those of a ' Lady 
Blessington Annual' than of a serious gardening book, 
but I should think it was a standard work on hothouse 
foliage plants. It has one great merit : the illustrations 
are in very bright colours, and the plant in full growth 
is printed in black and white on the opposite page ; 
this is a first-rate way of illuatrating a book of the kind. 
The letterpress gives a detailed botanical story of the 



NOVEMBER 231 

plant illustrated, and the method of its cultivation. A 
useful book, I should imagine, for head-gardeners whose 
employers are fond of beautiful-leaved plants. 

1869. ' The Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of 
Paris,' by W. Eobinson. This is the earliest of many most 
interesting books that I possess by Mr. Eobinson ; a 
book full of information, branching into many directions. 
The third, and I believe last, edition, with the illustrations 
much improved, was published in 1883. 

Next comes, in 1871, his ' Sub-tropical Garden, or 
Beauty of Form in the Flower Garden.' This second title 
refers to that which, to my mind, is the great value and 
interest of the book, and to be attained almost entirely as 
well by hardy plants as by sub-tropical ones. In 1871,. 
however, the idea was new, and is even now but most 
indifferently carried out or understood in nine out of ten 
gardens that one sees, in spite of all Mr. Eobinson's 
invaluable teaching both in this and many other of his 
books. 

* Alpine Flowers for English Gardens.' Mine is the 
third edition. The illustrations are popular, and inferior 
to those in most of Mr. Eobinson's books. How much 
joy do the Alps recall to thousands of people ! Even for 
those who do not enjoy mountain scenery, there are 
always the lakes and the flora. 

Avec leurs grands sommets, leurs glaces eternelles 
Par un soleil d'utc que les Alpes sont belles ! 

Some of Mr. Euskin's happiest lines, I think, are in 
the * Mont Blanc revisited ' : 

O mount beloved, my eyes again 
Behold the twilight's sanguine stain 
Along thy peaks expire ; 

mount beloved, thy frontier waste 

1 seek with a religious haste 
And reverent desire. 



230 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

(No date, but I imagine in the 'Fifties.) ' Profitable 
Gardening : a Pi^actical Guide,' by Shirley Hibberd. A 
nice old book, full of clear instruction and practical 
hints. Books of this description are often to be picked 
up on old bookstalls, and are very helpful, as l)eing the 
A B C to more advanced modern books. 

1855. ' Flora of the Colosseum of Eome,' by Eichard 
Deakin, M.D., with a print of the ruins of the Colosseum 
before the days of photography. I bought this book, I 
must confess, out of pure sentiment, as it is too strictly 
botanical to suit my ignorance. I spent a winter in Eome 
when I was a little girl, and the vegetation which grew 
all over the Colosseum, both plants and flowers, was 
deeply impressed on my mind. I never saw Eome again 
till aliout twelve years ago, when the scraped and tidy 
appearance of the Eoman ruins, though no doubt necessary 
for their preservation for posterity, struck a cruel blow at 
my youthful recollections. This curious little book gives 
the botanical description of 420 plants growing spon- 
taneously on the ruins of the Colosseum at Eome. The 
record of this absolutely vanished vegetation has, I 
think, a touch of poetry of its own which can better be 
felt than expressed. The book has some little architec- 
tural illustrations of no great merit. 

1855. ' Beautiful-Leaved Plants,' by E. J. Stone. 
This is a book rather interesting to the collector, and 
illustrative of a peculiarly bad period. Its quotations 
and general appearance are rather those of a ' Lady 
Blessington Annual' than of a serious gardening book, 
but I should think it was a standard work on hothouse 
foliage plants. It has one great merit : the illustrations 
are in very bright colours, and the plant in full growth 
is printed in black and white on the opposite page ; 
this is a first-rate way of illustrating a book of the kind. 
The letterpress gives a detailed botanical story of the 



NOVEMBER 231 

plant illustrated, and the method of its cultivation. A 
useful book, I should imagine, for head-gardeners whose 
employers are fond of beautiful-leaved plants. 

1869. ' The Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of 
Paris,' by W. Eobinson. This is the earliest of many most 
interesting books that I possess by Mr. Eobinson ; a 
book full of information, branching into many directions. 
The third, and I believe last, edition, with the illustrations 
much improved, was published in 1883. 

Next comes, in 1871, his ' Sub-tropical Garden, or 
Beauty of Form in the Flower Garden.' This second title 
refers to that which, to my mind, is the great value and 
interest of the book, and to be attained almost entirely as 
well by hardy plants as by sub-tropical ones. In 1871^ 
however, the idea was new, and is even now but most 
indifferently carried out or understood in nine out of ten 
gardens that one sees, in spite of all Mr. Eobinson's 
invaluable teaching both in this and many other of his 
books. 

'Alpine Flowers for English Gardens.' Mine is the 
third edition. The illustrations are popular, and inferior 
to those in most of Mr. Eobinson's books. How much 
joy do the Alps recall to thousands of people ! Even for 
those who do not enjoy mountain scenery, there are 
always the lakes and the flora. 

Avec leurs grands sommets, leurs glaces eternelles 
Par un soleil d'ctc que les Alpes sont belles ! 

Some of Mr. Euskin's happiest lines, I think, are in 
the ' Mont Blanc '-evisited ' : 

mount beloved, my eyes again 
Behold the twilight's sanguine stain 
Along thy peaks expire ; 

mount beloved, thy frontier waste 

1 seek with a religious haste 
And reverent desire. 



232 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

And who can ever think of Switzerland apart from 
Matthew Arnold's two wonderful Obermann poems ? Do 
not some spirits still exist who slip ' their chain ' with 
Matthew Arnold ? 

And to thy mountain chalet come, 

And lie beside its dooi*, 
And hear the wild bees' Alpine hum, 
And thy sad, tranquil lore. 

Again I feel the words inspire 

Their mournful calm — serene, 
Yet tinged with infinite desire 

For all that might have been. 

De Senancour ! how these poems ' To Obermann ' have 
carried your melancholy eloquence from the early years 
of the century to its very end ! 

The first edition of the ' Wild Garden ' was published 
in 1881, and of all modern illustrated flower-books it is 
the only one I know that makes me feel really enthu- 
siastic. The drawings in it, by Mr. Alfred Parsons, are 
exquisite and quite original. At the time of its publica- 
tion the method was new, and, to my mind, it has not 
yet been surpassed. I have also the fourth edition, which 
came out in 1894, with much new matter and several new 
illustrations, especially landscapes ; but I prefer the first 
edition — perhaps because we get fond of the particular 
edition that originally gave pleasure. 

I am afraid that the hopeful instructions on ' wild 
gardening ' so cheerfully laid down by Mr. Eobinson 
must be taken with a great many grains of salt when it 
comes to putting them into practice, especially in dry 
soils. With care, labour, knowledge, and space, exquisite 
gardens may be laid out, suitable to the various soils of 
England ; but, in my experience, even the best planting 
goes off without renewal of the soil. This shows itself 
with the happy possessors of these so-called ' wild gardens ' 



NOVEMBER 233 

by the constant desire to extend them into pastures new. 
Mr. Eobinson's description of a garden at Weybridge 
ought to open the eyes of everybody as to what can be 
done in hght soils. All I wish to point out is that 
merely buying the plants and sticking them in does not 
make a wild garden. No one can look at Mr. Parsons' 
beautiful drawings of the Evening Primrose and the 
Giant Cow Parsley without longing to grow such things. 
But the first essentials are space and isolation ; they are 
worth nothing if crowded up. 

1875. ' The Vegetable Garden,' by M. M. Vilmorin- 
Andrieux. English edition published under the direction 
of W. Eobinson. This is one of the books mentioned in 
January as indispensable to anyone who wishes to be 
up-to-date or to grow special vegetables in the kitchen 
garden. The illustrations are from the French edition, 
and, though not artistic, are admirably drawn, and give 
one quickly an intimate knowledge of the shape and 
growth of vegetables, whether they be roots or plants. 

The first edition of the now far-famed ' English Flower 
Garden ' came out in 1883, and the one published this 
year (1896) is the sixth edition. It has been immensely 
added to, and the present illustrations are among the 
most beautiful modern wood-cuts I know. It is said that 
books are now written to be read and understood by the 
village idiot. If this be so, I must own that the first and 
second editions, with theit quantity of small, gardener's 
catalogue illustrations of the plants and flowers, are more 
helpful to the ignorant amateur than is this beautiful 
illustrating of, let us say, a branch of Hawthorn or a full- 
blown Tea-rose. This seems a cruel criticism of a beautiful 
book ; and it should never be forgotten that the fault lies 
with the ignorant amateur, not with the new edition. 

' God's Acre Beautiful, or The Cemeteries of the 
Future ' is a strong plea for cremation. My edition is 



236 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

be the best of Governments in which an injury done to 
the meanest subject is an insult to the whole community. 

' This is pretty much the law of a garden. 

' Nothing is more objectionable than the manner in 
which the common plants are often treated to make way 
for the grandees. Bulbs taken up before they are ready, 
and dwarfed for next season in consequence ; small trees 
or shrubs transplanted carelessly, and thrust in wher- 
ever they will do no harm, because a little too good to 
throw away, and not quite good enough to deserve just 
treatment; and many other plants neglected, over- 
shadowed, or in some way stinted of their due, as not 
being worth much trouble. At times, even worse than 
this, we see murderous digging and slashing amongst 
plants in their period of growth. This is not a healthy 
process for the mind. "Whatever is unfairly treated is 
better altogether away, since we can view it with no hearty 
relish. And this injustice to the least is felt inevitably in 
a measure by all, for it affects the spirit of the place. 
Half the charm of the old-fashioned garden lies in that 
look of happy rest among the plants, each of which seems 
to say : " All plant life is sacred when admitted, my own 
repose has never been disturbed, and I am confident it 
never will be." You feel this to be a sort of heaven 
of plant life, preserved by some hidden charm from the 
intrusion of noxious weeds. The modern garden, on the 
contrary, is too apt to assume a look of stir and change ; 
here to-day, gone to-morrow. The very tidiness of the 
beds and the neat propriety of the plants contribute to 
this impression. "We feel the omnipresence of a severity 
which cannot tolerate straggling. None have been ad- 
mitted but polished gentlemen, who will never break the 
rules ; and we feel that the most cherished offender would 
be instantly punished. 

' I have been referring here to the herbaceous plants 



NOVEMBER 237 

and evergreens of the ordinary beds— Thujas, Junipers, 
Rhododendrons, &c. — rather than to the larger trees and 
shrubs. To run down the glorious Rhododendrons in 
themselves would be preposterous ; but they always have, 
however large they may grow, an air of gentlemanly 
restraint — a drawing-room manner, as it were — which must 
produce the effect we have described wherever they are 
very numerous. But the old garden impresses us always 
by that loving tenderness for the plants. " That wall- 
flower ought not to have come up in the Box edging — but 
never mind, we must manage to get on without hurting 
the wallflower ; " and it is this spirit of compromise — this 
happy, genial, kindly character, as contrasted with the 
sterner and less loving spirit, which you feel is ready to 
descend upon any transgressor in a moment, that makes 
the difference of which we speak.' 

Mr. Watson is very severe in his condemnation of 
double flowers, and in a way which, I think, indicates the 
same nature that could not admire Rubens or the Venetian 
painters. Surely many people with a sensuous tempera- 
ment are no more to be blamed therefor than are people 
who blush to be reprimanded by those who do not. In 
their power of giving pleasure the strong-scented double 
garden flowers are superior to the beautiful single ones, 
and the Neapolitan Violet, the warm, exquisitely scented 
Tuberose, the tender but full-odoured garden Rose, and 
the Carnation, give great delight in a harmless way to 
people of certain temperaments. Why should this be con- 
demned, when that which pleases the eye in the beautiful 
forms of the single flower is praised ? Mr. Watson says, 
' Above all, scorn nothing ' ; yet he himself utterly condemns 
the cultivator who prefers thedouble sweet-scentedflowers. 
It is the old story ; as Samuel Butler puts it, the damning 
of the sins we are not inclined to. We all do it more or less. 
To me some few flowers seem vulgar, partly from associa- 



236 POT-rOURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

be the best of Governments in which an injury done to 
the meanest subject is an insult to the whole community. 

' Tliis is pretty much the law^ of a garden. 

' Nothing is more objectionable than the manner in 
which the common plants are often treated to make way 
for tlie grandees. Bulbs taken up before they are ready, 
and d\Yarfed for next season in consequence ; small trees 
or shrubs transplanted carelessly, and thrust in whei'- 
ever they will do no harm, because a little too good to 
throw away, and not quite good enough to deserve just 
treatment ; and many other plants neglected, ovei'- 
shadowed, or in some way stinted of their due, as not 
being worth much trouble. At times, even worse than 
this, we see murderous digging and slashing amongst 
plants in their period of growth. This is not a healthy 
process for the mind. Whatever is unfairly treated is 
bettei' altogether away, since we can view it with no hearty 
relish. And this injustice to the least is felt inevitably in 
& measure by all, for it affects the spirit of the place. 
Half tlie charm of the old-fashioned garden lies in that 
look of happy rest among the plants, each of which seems 
to say : " All plant life is sacred when admitted, my own 
repose has never been disturbed, and I am confident it 
never will be." You feel this to be a sort of heaven 
of plant life, preserved by some hidden charm from the 
intrusion of noxious weeds. The modern garden, on the 
contrary, is too apt to assume a look of stir and change ; 
here to-day, gone to-morrow. The very tidiness of the 
beds and the neat propriety of the plants contribute to 
this impression. We feel the omnipresence of a severity 
which cannot tolerate straggling. None have been ad- 
mitted but polished gentlemen, who will never break the 
rules ; and we feel that the most cherished offender would 
be instantly punished. 

' I liave been referring here to the herbaceous plants 



NOVEMBER 237 

find evergreens of the ordinary beds — Thujas, Junipers, 
Rhododendrons, &c. — rather than to the larger trees and 
shrubs. To run down the glorious Rhododendrons in 
themselves would be preposterous ; but they always have, 
however large they may grow, an air of gentlemanly 
restraint — a drawing-room manner, as it were — which must 
produce the effect we have described wherever they are 
very numerous. But the old garden impresses us always 
by that loving tenderness for the plants. "That wall- 
flower ought not to have come up in the Box edging — but 
never mind, we must manage to get on without hurting 
the wallflower ; " and it is this spirit of compromise — this 
happy, genial, kindly character, as contrasted with the 
sterner and less loving spirit, which you feel is ready to 
descend upon any transgressor in a moment, that makes 
the difference of which we speak.' 

Mr. "Watson is very severe in his condemnation of 
double flowers, and in a way which, I think, indicates the 
same nature that could not admire Rubens or the Venetian 
painters. Surely many people with a sensuous tempera- 
ment are no more to be blamed therefor than are people 
who blush to be reprimanded by those who do not. In 
their power of giving pleasure the strong-scented double 
garden flowers are superior to the beautiful single ones, 
and the Neapolitan Violet, the warm, exquisitely scented 
Tuberose, the tender but full-odoured garden Rose, and 
the Carnation, give great delight in a harmless way to 
people of certain temperaments. Why should this be con- 
demned, when that which pleases the eye in the beautiful 
forms of the single flower is praised ? Mr. Watson says, 
' Above all, scorn nothing ' ; yet he himself utterly condemns 
the cultivator who prefers the double sweet-scented flowers. 
It is the old story ; as Samuel Butler puts it, the damning 
of the sins we are not inclined to. We all do it more or less. 
To me some few flowers seem vulgar, partly from associa- 



238 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

tion and partly from the unsympathetic harshness of their 
tint. But surely in gardening, as in all else in life, the 
broadest view is best, and the wisest attempt is to please 
as many as we can. The taste of the ignorant and the 
critical taste of the cultivated never can be the same on 
any subject, but both are better than indifference and no 
taste at all. I know one man who dislikes any flowers, 
and only has stunted Portugal Laurels growing in green 
square boxes on his lawn. I know another who will not 
plant anything that does not flower or fruit in the autumn 
months, because that is the only time he intends to live 
at his country place. All tastes are respectable, though 
we may each of us find it difficult to admire the taste of 
the other. 

1872. ' My Garden : Its Plan and Culture,' by Alfred 
Smee. Second edition, revised and corrected. This book 
is one I can really recommend to beginners. It is modern 
in illustration, and yet it retains some of the character- 
istics of the older books. It really teaches you what to 
do, and gives a very fair idea of all that a good-sized 
garden requires ; it names and illustrates hardly any 
plants not worth growing; it includes kitchen garden, 
flower garden, Alpine garden, greenhouse, stove, and 
water plants ; and it winds up with garden insects, animals, 
and birds. The illustrations are much above the average. 
Those who want to buy one single book likely to help 
them, especially at first, could not do better than get this 
one, which is often to be seen mentioned in catalogues 
of second-hand books. 

1874. ' Alpine Plants,' edited by David Wooster, This 
work, which is in two volumes, contains a great many 
colour-printed illustrations of Alpine plants — not, however, 
as they grow in the fissures of their mountain slopes, but 
as they may be seen in Mr. Backhouse's most interest- 
ing gardens in Yorkshire. The drawings are rather 
exaggerated in size and liarsh in colour, but^the book is 



NOVEMBER 239 

distinctly instructive as portraying, among what are called 
* Alpines,' the most showy and the best worth cultivating 
in English gardens. 

1879. ' A Year in a Lancashire Garden,' by Henry A. 
Bright. This little book is the one I alluded to in March, 
and to which I consider I owe so much. It often gives 
me pleasure to read it over now. It has qualities like the 
garden itself. The same flowers come up each year, the 
same associations link themselves on to the returning 
flowers, and the verses of the great poets are unchanged ; 
so this little book will always be tome like poor Ophelia's 
Eosemary, ' that's remembrance.' 

The quotations throughout the book arc quite un- 
usually original and appropriate. 

(No date.) ' Gleanings from Old Garden Literature,' 
by W. Carew Hazlitt. Of all the recent little books 
referring in some way directly or indirectly to gardens, 
this one, I think, gives me the most pleasure. It has 
all the charm of a conversation with a clever and sym- 
pathetic man On subjects that are dear to him and to 
oneself. Mr. Hazlitt quotes, from Cowley's preface to 
his poem of 'The Garden,' the delightful wish which 
comes home to so many when the strife and toil of 
life are more or less over and evening is drawing 
near: — 'I never had any other desire so strong and 
so like covetousness as that one which I have had 
always, that I might be master at last of a small house 
and large garden, with very moderate conveniences 
joined to them, and there dedicate the remainder of my 
life to the culture of th(!m and the study of Nature.' To 
anyone who has found any interest in my book-notes, I 
would say, ' Get this littk; book ; you will find pleasure in it.* 

188L ' Notes and Thoughts on Gardens and Wood- 
lands,' by the late Frances Jane Hope. This is a most 
excellent and helpful work to the true amateur gardener. 
Though without the unique literary flavour of that book, it 



240 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

belongs in a way to what I would call the ' Lancashire 
Garden ' series, and is not only useful by reason of its 
suggestive and instructive qualities, but is full of indi- 
viduality and information. Miss Hope strikes the true 
note, and one, it seems, of the real difficulties of left-alone 
half-wild gardens, when she says, ' These two winters and 
one summer have spoilt our spring beds and borders, and 
a thorough upturn and change of plan will be requisite. 
It was impossible to use a fork or hoe in 1879 in our 
soil ; the result of the leave-alone system is a carpet of 
Marchantia and Hypnum sericeum. To scrape these pests 
off does no real good, for the earth is caked below and 
impervious to air, sun, or rain. So we are longing for our 
bulb treasures to be up, and to get on to our alterations, do 
away with rings and surfacings, and whatever prevent;^ 
us loosening the earth between each plant. Looking at 
our border, the only real advantage of what is called 
bedding-out struck me forcibly, being the thorough work- 
ing and justice done to the soil.' The whole book is 
simply about gardening, but of the most intelligent and 
suggestive kind. 

1884. ' Hardy Perennials,' by John Wood. An ex- 
cellent, cheap, instructive httle book. Mr. Wood, of 
Kirkstall, Yorkshire, has a very fane collection of herb- 
aceous plants for sale. 

1884. ' Days and Hours in a Garden,' by E. V. B. 
This is a garden book rather breathing the sweet luxury 
and joy of a garden than one very full of instruction or 
practical experience. E. V. B. herself owns one of the 
most beautiful gardens I know ; and the book has, I think, 
that power which is one of the highest qualities of art, of 
making one feel beauty. The little pen-and-ink drawings 
are full of charm ; and on the expanse of an inch — for 
these little headings to chapters are scarcely more— one 
breathes the pure air of Heaven. As she herself quotes, 



NOVEMBER 241 

' To the wise a fact is true poetry and the most beautiful 
of Fables.' In 1895 E. V. B. published a second book, 
called ' A Garden of Pleasure.' It has the same qualities, 
but is not perhaps quite as good. We are apt to think 
this of second books on the same subject — perhaps we are 
prejudiced in favour of our first friend. 

1890. 'The Garden's Story, or Pleasures and Trials 
of an Amateur Gardener,' by George H. Ellwanger. I 
suppose nearly all readers of garden books have seen this 
charming, clever, tasteful, little contribution from the 
other shore ; I do not mean the next world, but America. 
In spite of the constant interchange of books between the 
two countries, it required an introduction from so well- 
known a gardener as Mr. Wolley Dod to make the book 
known here. Let us thank Mr. Wolley Dod cordially, 
and thoroughly agree that an international exchange of 
information on so all-absorbing a subject as gardening is 
most interesting. The cHmate of America, with its hot 
summers and long cold winters, makes gardening a much 
more serious undertaking than it is in our own damp, 
equable, little island. Mr. Ellwanger gives us a most 
luxurious and opulent receipt for the old favourite 
mixture called, all the world over. Pot-pourri : — ' The roses 
used should be just blown, of the sweetest-smelling kinds, 
gathered in as dry a state as possible. After each gather- 
ing, spread out the petals on a sheet of paper and leave 
until free from all moisture ; then place a layer of petals 
in the jar, sprinkling with coarse salt; then another layer 
and salt, alternating, until the jar is full. Leave for a 
few days, or until a broth is formed; then incorporate 
thoroughly, and add more petals and salt, mixing dailv 
for a week, when fragrant gums and spices should be 
added, such as benzoin, storax, cassia buds, cinnamon, 
cloves, cardamom, and vanilla bean. Mix again and 
leave for a few days, when add essential oil of jasmine, 

B 



244 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

gardens of Italy, which, even in their decay, are never 
forgotten by those who once have had the joy of wander- 
ing in them. 

1894. 'The Natural History of Plants,' from the 
German of Anton Kerner von Marilaun, Professor of 
Botany in the University of Vienna, by F. W. Oliver 
Quain, Professor of Botany in University College, London. 
For the modern botanist this book is deeply interesting. 
I am, alas ! no botanist, and have no scientific knowledge ; 
but to take up the book, and to read a page or two 
anywhere, opens one's eyes wide with wonder. It 
refers principally to microscopic botany. The coloured 
plates are saddening to a degree ; they seem to me all 
that botanical plates ought not to be, and somehow 
appear to have been affected by Miss North's system of 
flower-painting. How valuable would have been her 
untiring energy, if the drawings so generously given to 
Kew had been either artistic, like Mr. Parsons', or, still 
better, from the scientific point of view, botanical and 
delicately true, like Jacquin's or Eedout6's, or the drawings 
in Curtis's books ! In the chromo-lithographs of these 
four volumes we have attempts at the impossible — large 
plants in the foreground, with skies, distances, and middle- 
distance all out of tone. The wood-cuts are much 
better ; some are very good and delicate, especially the 
representations of strongly magnified subjects. I bought 
the book as bringing illustrated plant-lore down to the 
latest date. The account, in the third volume, of the dis- 
tribution of pollen is thrillingly interesting, and is within 
the comprehension of the aforenamed ' village idiot ' ; 
many of our ordinary garden flowers are figured as ex- 
amples. The saddest attempt at a picture is a Brobding- 
nagian representation of an Alpine Ehododendron, with 
pines and snow-clad mountains in the distance. I may 
be wrong, but to me it seems waste of talent and time 



NOVEMBER 245 

and money to illustrate books in this way. These 
illustrations are printed in Germany ; let us hope that the 
artists were also Germans. 

1895. ' In a Gloucestershire Garden,' by Henry 
EUacombe. I think most people who are personally 
interested in their gardens will enjoy this book ; there is 
much to be learnt from it, and the second part is especially 
instructive. It breathes the true spirit of a garden, 
independently of the human element or of book-making. 
Canon EUacombe names many of the old Eoses, now 
gone out of fashion, but I rather doubt if he has ever seen 
Redout6's wonderful Eose book. He ends his book with 
a warning to the clergy against gardening, as being too 
interesting and too absorbing an occupation for them. I 
■can thoroughly echo this sentiment as a warning to all 
young people. It can only be perfectly indulged in by 
the lonely or the old, and by those who do not mind 
neglecting their other duties, and who say, bravely and 
honestly, ' I am quite selfish and quite happy.' But 
of course this is the danger of all absorbing pursuits. 
I agree with many of Canon Ellacombe's remarks ; one 
especially can never be too often repeated : — ' In nothing 
is the gardener's skill more shown than in the judicious 
use of the pruning-knife.' His experience of the American 
Bramble is exactly mine — as far as the fruit goes ; it is 
not worth growing, as the fruit is less in quantity and 
inferior in quality to our own wild Brambles. But the cut 
leaf is prettier, and at any rate makes a variety. 

1895. ' The Story of the Plants,' by Grant Allen, is a 
humble, little popular book ; but I am sure its perusal 
will bring pleasure and increased understanding to many 
who read it. One of his sayings is ' that plants are the 
only things that know how to manufacture living material. 
Eoughly speaking, plants are the producers and animals 
the consumers.' 



246 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

1896. 'The Bamboo Garden,' by A. B. Freeman 
Mitford, C.B. Mr. Mitford tells us in his preface that his 
book is simply an attempt to give a descriptive list — 
what the French caU a catalogue raisonn& — of the hardy 
Bamboos in cultivation in this country. We ought to be 
grateful that he has brought within the reach of every- 
body all that is to be said on this most beautiful family. 

1895. ' A History of Gardening in England,' by the 
Hon. Alicia Amherst. This is by far the most interest- 
ing and remarkable book that, I believe, has ever been 
written on the subject, and far surpasses in every way 
Mr. Johnson's ' History of Gardening,' before alluded to. 
The book is full of information, drawn from patient 
and most diligent research, and will be of real utility 
to students of the literature and history of gardening 
and to the owners of large places. It contains little 
that will practically help people who Hve in cottages 
and small villas. It aUudes only very indirectly to the 
beautiful illustrated flower books, especially the foreign 
ones, which so far exceed our own in artistic beauty and 
skill. It is rather sad that when the Society of Gardeners 
wished to illustrate their plants in 1736 they had to 
engage the services of Jacob van Huysum, brother of the 
Dutch flower-painter ; and to this day the best periodical 
coloured flower-printing, though painted by Englishmen, 
is printed in Belgium {vide ' The Garden '). Miss Amherst's 
book is one for constant reference ; and the greater one's 
knowledge, the gi'eater will be one's appreciation of it. I 
cannot but regret, however, that it has been printed on the 
disagreeable modern shiny paper, which also makes the 
book most inconveniently heavy. This paper, I am told, 
facilitates the reproduction of the illustrations ; but these, 
also, are very hard and ugly, and quite unworthy of the 
book. 

It is almost impossible to keep pace with the modern 



NOVEMBER 247 

books about gardens, they are so numerous. Just to 
complete my list I will mention several in my possession, 
for, as the motto of one of them says, ' It is a natxiral 
consequence that those who cannot taste the actual 
fruition of a garden should take the greater delight in 
reading about one.' 

' Voyage autour de mon Jardin,' by Alphonse Karr, ia 
charming, and has been translated into English. 

' The Praise of Gardens,' by Albert F. Sieveking, is a 
collection of quotations of all that has been written about 
gardens. The selection is very complete. Unfortunately 
the book is out of print. 

I need hardly mention ' The Garden that I Love,' by 
Alfred Austin, as it has been such a favourite v^ith the 
public. It is, of course, a book v\rritten less to instruct 
about gardening than to show what a beautiful and 
enchanting place a garden is for conversation, especially 
when the right people come together. 

In the ' Edinburgh Eeview ' for July 1896, there is an 
article called 'Gardens and Garden Craft,' with a long 
heading of gardening books, which many people will find 
interesting, as I did. 

In the November (1896) number of ' The Journal of 
the Eoyal Horticultural Society ' is an excellent lecture by 
Mr. P. W. Burbidge, the Curator of the Botanical Garden 
in Dublin. In the ' Journal ' the lecture is divided into 
three parts — called ' Garden Literature,' ' Eeference Books 
on English Gardening Literature,' and ' Garden Libraries.' 
It is interesting, besides other reasons, as being a some- 
what new departure in the lectures delivered before the 
Horticultural Society. I strongly recommend those who 
care about the subject to read this lecture, as they wiU 
get a great deal of most useful information in a very 
condensed form. Mr. Bm-bidge strongly recommends 
garden libraries, in which I entirely agree with him. N o 



248 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

large place should be without a room where gardening 
books and weekly gardening papers are within easy 
access of all the gardeners on the place, and no village 
club in England could not afford to take in Mr. Eobinson's 
excellent little weekly paper called ' Cottage Gardening,' 
which I mentioned before. It costs one halfpenny, and 
is full of all sorts of useful information. Surely at village 
shows no better prize could be given than the back 
numbers (bound) of this most useful publication. Mr. 
Burbidge says : ' In America and in Germany the library 
seems to be thought as essential to good gardening and 
profitable land culture as here with us the seed room or 
the tool shed; and in England we are beginning to 
perceive the value of technical education, and to recognise 
the vital importance of the most recent scientific dis- 
coveries relating to our crops and their diseases, and the 
soil in which they grow. Private garden libraries, while 
most desirable, really form part of a much larger 
and wider question. If libraries are essential for the 
garden, surely they are even more so on the farm.' Mr. 
Burbidge winds up : ' But to form libraries we must have 
good and useful books, and I shall give a short list of 
those I believe to be the best of their kind ; and one of 
the best ways I know of getting the best gardening books 
into the best hands is to award them as prizes to the 
cultivators and exhibitors of garden produce at allotment- 
garden and village flower shows.' With this I most 
cordially agree. Then foUows a hst of thirty-eight books. 
Another paper of great interest is on the importance 
of British fruit-growing, from a food point of view, by Mr. 
Edmund J. Baillie. 



249 



DECEMBER 

Orchid-growing on a small scale — Miss Jekyll's articles in the 
' Guardian ' — Winter vegetables — Laver as a vegetable — Advice 
to housekeepers — Cooking sun-dried fruit. 

December 5th. — For anyone with a small stove I can 
thoroughly advise growing some of the more easily 
cultivated Orchids. For many years all Orchids seemed 
to me to smell of money, and to represent great expendi- 
ture ; but this is not the case at all. They only want the 
treatment suited to them, and the same care and atten- 
tion required by other plants that are grown in heat. 
Cypripediums come in most usefully at this time of 
year ; they last well in water, and continue to flower at 
times all through the winter. There are endless varieties 
of them to be bought, and some of the least expensive 
plants are often as good as the costly ones ; it is only 
the new varieties that are dear. Some that I have 
— green, spotted with brown, and with clear white tips 
— are lovely. They have looked well lately on the 
dinner-table, arranged with little branches of a shrubby 
Veronica, called, I believe, V. speciosum. It is a plant 
well worth growing for the charming light green of its 
leaves out of doors at this time of year, when fresh green 
is so rare. Unhke most of the shrubby Veronicas, it 
lasts well in water. It has a long white flower in July, 
which is not especially pretty. We also grow very suc- 
cessfully Dendrohium nohile, Oiiciclium sphacelatum, and 



25© POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

several other Orchids that flower in the early part of the 
year. 

To-day there have come up from the country — not 
from my own home, which is too dry, but from near 
Salisbury — some branches cut from an old Thorn or Apple 
tree, and covered with long hoary-grey moss. I have put 
them into an old ginger- jar without water, and in this 
way they will last through the winter. They stand now 
against a red wall, where they look exceedingly well. 

December 10th. — There has been in this year's 
' Guardian ' a succession of monthly papers on a Surrey 
garden, written by Miss Jekyll of Munstead Wood, 
Godalming. I give her address, as she now sells her 
surplus plants, all more or less suited to light soils, 
to the management of which she has for many years 
past given special attention. These papers have much 
illuminating matter in them, and are called ' Notes from 
Garden and Woodland.' All the plants and flowers 
about which Miss Jekyll writes she actually grows on 
the top of her Surrey hill. Her garden is a most 
instructive one, and encouraging too. She has gone 
through the stage, so common to all ambitious and 
enthusiastic amateurs, of trying to grow everything, and 
of often wasting much precious room in growing 
inferior plants, or plants which, even though they may 
be worth growing in themselves, are yet not worth the 
care and feeding which a light soil necessitates if they 
are to be successful. 

This, to me, rather delightful characteristic of ama- 
teurs in every art was severely condemned by Mr. 
Euskin in my youth, when he said that the amateur 
sketcher always attempted to draw the panorama of Eome 
on his thumb-nail, instead of humbly trying to reproduce 
what was at his own door. The practice is just as 
common in gardening as in music and painting. 



DECEMBER 251 

Every plant that Miss Jekyll names is worth getting 
and growing in gardens that are of considerable size, and 
which more or less share her Surrey soil and climate. 
I trust that before long these articles will be republished 
in book form, for every word in them deserves attention 
and consideration. 

December 12th. — One of the every-day English dishes 
that is often so bad, and can be so excellent, is the old, 
much-abused hashed mutton. What I am going to say 
about it appHes equally well to every kind of meat that 
is warmed up. Make the sauce early in the day with 
stock, gravy, onions, and other vegetables, or, failing this, 
a few drops of two or three of the bought sauces, and 
one or two drops of essence of garlic. Garlic, which is 
excellent as a flavouring to most sauces, is such a 
dangerous thing to use in a kitchen that the way I 
manage it is this : — Put five or six cloves of garlic into a 
wide-necked bottle and cover them with good spirits of 
wine. When wanted, stick a skewer or fork into the 
spirit and use a drop or two. The spirit evaporates and 
the flavour of the garlic remains. But even in this way 
it must be used carefully for English palates. To return 
to the sauce for the hash : avoid flour, or, if it must be 
a little thickened, let it only be with what is called 
' brown roux ' in ' Dainty Dishes.' The really essential 
point is to make your sauce first and let it get cold, and 
then warm up the meat and the sauce together. If you 
throw meat of any kind into hot sauce, you are certain 
to make it hard ; it contracts the fibre of the meat, and 
spoils it. 

One of the very few ways in which wild duck can 
be warmed up is to mince it fine and then curry it with 
some well-cooked curry sauce. This is made on the 
same principle as the curry mentioned before ; that is to 
say, the onion and apple (if you cannot get apples, goose- 



252 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

berries, or rhubarb, or any fruit will do) must be fried 
together, and the stock and curry powder added, well 
cooked, and rubbed through a fine sieve, allowed to get 
cool, and the mince and sauce just warmed up together 
before serving. For currying fish or vegetables a little 
milk or cream softens the sauce. 

Stewed meats are seldom really good in England. 
The following is a good way of cooking haricot of 
mutton : — Set a stew-pan on the fire (an earthenware one 
is the best) with a little butter in it ; put in some pieces 
of raw mutton, neatly jointed and cut up small; fry 
till a nice brown colour. Take out the meat, place 
it on a dish, add some carrots, turnips, onions, celery, 
and a very little sugar, and fry in the butter. When 
brown, replace the meat, and pour in some cold water or 
weak stock — enough to cover all the ingredients. Stew 
gently for three hours. The stewing can be done in the 
oven or on the hot-plate. If cooked in an earthenware 
pot, this stew, as well as many others done in the same 
way, can be sent to table in the pot with a clean napkin 
pinned round it. 

When vegetables are scarce in winter, and you have 
cooked carrots, turnips, onions, celery, &c., strained 
from the soup the night before, it is a good plan to chop 
them up and warm them in a little butter with a small 
lump of sugar, some pepper and salt, and serve them for 
luncheon. If the quantity is insuJBficient, you can easily 
add some cold potatoes and cabbage. 

Potatoes, now so often forbidden by doctors, seem to 
me excellent, wholesome food for people who do not eat 
meat. They can be cooked in such an endless variety of 
ways, though most English cooks confine themselves, as a 
rule, to only two or three. The secret of good mashed 
potatoes is to boil them dry, and beat them up with 
boiling milk, adding a little butter or cream. Cold 



DECEMBER 253 

milk makes them heavy, and spoils them. Another way- 
is to put in a stew-pan some potatoes and two or 
three sliced onions, to boil, with only enough water to 
cover them. When they are done, beat them well with 
a fork, have ready some boiling milk and a piece of 
butter, stir these in by degrees as you beat, till the 
potatoes are like a thick pur6e. ' Dainty Dishes ' has 
several receipts for cooking potatoes. 

A seaweed called Laver is a delicious, wholesome, and 
uncommon vegetable in London in November and 
December. It is to be bought at any of the really good 
grocers', not greengrocers'. The London supply, I be- 
lieve, comes from Devonshire, prepared and cooked, and 
requires nothing beyond a little stock and butter to 
moisten it when it is warmed up. It should be served 
in a small copper saucepan with a lamp under it, as it is 
not good unless very hot indeed. For helping it a small 
wooden spoon is better than a silver one ; at least, so it 
used to be served in old days in the North, when I 
remember it as a child. Half a lemon is sent up with it. 
A good many people do not like it, I am bound to 
confess; but those who do, find it a treat they look 
forward to — and it is good either by itself or with any 
roast meat, especially mutton. 

The same little copper saucepan is useful for a wild 
duck sauce which I always make on the table. The 
saucepan, on a spirit-lamp, comes up with some gravy in 
it ; I then squeeze in half or all of a lemon, according to 
quantity required, and add a little red wine — Port is the 
best — and some Cayenne pepper. When warm, I pour it 
over the slices of wild duck on each plate. Wild duck 
should be very lightly roasted. 

Eice plays a large part in our cooking all the year 
round ; Patna is nearly always the best. Eisotto a la 
Milanese is an original Italian receipt : — Cut up four onions 



254 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

very fine, and fry a nice brown. Throw into the stew-pan 
1 lb. of rice, and let it slightly colour ; then moisten with good 
stock, and cook it for 35 minutes. Season with pepper 
and salt, a little nutmeg, and Parmesan cheese. Serve 
very hot. Chopped truflles or mushrooms may bo added. 

An excellent winter salad for serving with wild duck 
and many other birds is watercress, carefully picked and 
washed, pieces of orange (cut as described below for the 
compote), all the juice of the oranges, and a few drops of 
good salad oil added just before serving. 

Orange compote depends almost entirely on the good- 
ness of the oranges, and on the way they are cut. The 
best plan is to stick them on a fork, and with a sharp- 
pointed kitchen knife remove, at one cutting, all the peel 
and all the white. Then, with the sharp point of a knife, 
cut out all the pieces of orange between the white lines, 
leaving the white in the middle. Save all the juice, 
and cut small shreds of the peel without any white, put 
them into some water with sugar and the juice, and, if 
the oranges are very sweet, add a little lemon juice. 
Boil up this syrup, pour it over the pieces of orange, and 
allow it to cool. This is a good foundation for any 
winter compote. Apricots, bananas, or pineapple, all 
can be added, separately or together; and a few dried 
cherries stewed impi'ove the appearance. Another excel- 
lent winter compote is made by cutting up a ripe pine- 
apple (often so cheap), stewing the peel in a syrup, to 
which is added the juice that runs out of the pineapple, 
and a little ginger. Strain, and pour it boiling over the 
pieces of pineapple. A few bananas cut up and added 
to the pineapple improve it. 

Two excellent ways of serving cold chicken for small 
parties or suppers are the following : — Order the day 
before from a good baker some extra small dinner-rolls, 
cut off the tops, and take out the crumb. Mince a little 



DECEMBER 255 

chicken and ham or tongue ; it takes a very small quan- 
tity of either. Mix with well-made Mayonnaise sauce, 
a little chopped parsley, and a very little onion. Put 
this into the rolls, and replace the small round top on 
each. Finger rolls, cut in half and the crumb taken out, 
can be done in the same way. 

The other way is to make some little open sand- 
wiches — we call them Barrington sandwiches — in the 
following manner : — Butter some moderately thick slices 
of a good tin loaf, and cut them into medium-sized 
rounds. Lay across them, in pieces cut quite narrow, 
some breast of cold chicken, a quarter of an anchovy, 
and a thin shred of green gherkin. These form narrow 
bars of green, white, and red across the slices of bread. 
Trim the edges, and serve on a plate one laid partly over 
the other, like cutlets. 

I particularly want to say a last word to housekeepers 
who are anxious to indulge in hospitality. Hospitality 
should mean, to my mind, not altering our whole way of 
living, but giving the best of our habitual food. For this 
nothing is so telling, whether the dinner be large or 
small, as the procuring of some special seasonable luxury. 
It is well worth taking the trouble to get any such 
luxuries, not from the usual shop in your neighbourhood, 
but from the very best shop you know of for each 
speciality, whether fish, game, vegetable, Italian goods 
more especially, fruit (fresh or bottled), dessert, biscuits, 
or cake. The really good housekeeper is alert to learn 
where the best things come from, and to take hints 
wherever she goes. One should never through idle- 
ness give up getting the best things. If you go to the 
expense of entertaining at all, it makes little difiference 
in the way of money whether you deal at a specially good 
shop or a second-rate one, and the results at your table 
are very different indeed. 



256 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

London shops are now full of sun-dried American 
fruits, principally apples and apricots. These appear to 
me to be safer and wholesomer, particularly for children, 
than tinned or bottled fruit. If carefully carried out, the 
following receipt makes them excellent : — Select the fruit 
you intend to use, and rinse it thoroughly in clear, fresh 
water; then place it in a dish with sufficient water to 
cover it, and allow it to soak for ten or fifteen hours 
before it is required for use. After this, put it in the 
vessel in which it is to be cooked (which ought, of course, 
to be earthenware), simmer it slowly, letting it come just 
once in a way to the boil, until it is thoroughly cooked. If 
the water in which the fruit was soaked is thrown away, 
and fresh water substituted, much of the flavour and 
nutriment of the fruit will be lost. Sufficient sugar 
should be added, when the fruit is nearly done, to make 
it palatable. Dried fruit cooked in this way can be 
served either hot or cold, as may be desii'ed. As a rule, 
when allowed to cool, it will bo fully as palatable as if 
eaten warm. By cooking dried fruit according to this 
method, there will be secured a wholesome and palatable 
dish, full flavoui-ed, and resembling as near as possible, 
in appearance, size, and taste, the original fresh product. 

This also is good : — Bavarois of fruit, bottled or fresh. 
Warm the fruit and rub it through a hair sieve, and add 
just enough isinglass, previously melted in a little water, 
to set the fruit when cold. Add some cream, and pour 
into a mould, keeping back a little fruit to make a syrup, 
which should be poured round before serving. Icing 
improves the dish. 



257 



SONS 

Boys and girls— The health question Early independence— Public 
schools — Influence of parents — The management of money — 
Family life and its diiliculties Sir Henry Taylor — ' Mothers and 
Sons'— The feeding of children -The abuse of athletics— Success 
in life — Spartan upbringing — Youth and age. 

I PEEL sure you all, as my nieces, care enough for my 
views on most things to wish for a few remarks on the 
great question of how to bring up boys and girls. The 
opinion of anybody who has thought at all and who has 
lived a long life is worth having as the personal ex- 
perience of one individual. Age is to life what distance 
is to landscape, it makes all things assume fairer pro- 
portions and embrace a larger horizon. Wo see more 
plainly the good and the bad in all systems, any con- 
victions we may still have we hold conditionally, and 
we lose the confidence with which we stepped out when 
we knew less and felt more. 

I had better begin first with the boys, and speak of 
the girls later on, which is certainly dealing with the 
matter in the old, conventional way. 

It is a well-known fact that more boys are born into 
the world than girls, but they are more difficult to rear, 
which accounts for the greater preponderance of women 
in the end. I suppose I ought to have more to say about 
boys than girls, for, as you know, I have had only boys 
of my own. My mother used to say it was a merciful 

8 



258 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

interposition of Providence that I had no girls, as I was 
totally unfit to bring them up. Naturally I do not agree 
with this, and should have liked immensely to have had 
three girls as well as three boys. 

The health question from the very beginning is one of 
the greatest importance. In the case of boys, at any rate, 
it cannot come naturally to any young mother. Her 
knowledge and intelligence, however, should at least be 
sufficient to let her know when things are not going right. 
As a rule, children grow up as ' Topsy ' did : ' 'Specs I 
growed.' But every now and then terrible things happen 
which, with a little sense and knowledge of when to call 
in a specialist, are quite preventable. I pity the parent 
who has to say : ' Alas ! I knew too late.' 

One of the great difficulties in the emancipating of the 
children of the weU-to-do — by which I mean helping them 
to learn independence, and to take care of themselves in 
early childhood — is the nervousness of mothers and nurses. 
If parents would only consider how sharp are the 
children of the London poor in looking after themselves, 
I think they would gain courage, and their children 
would profit. I know a child, the youngest of a family, 
a fine, plucky little fellow, whose whole nature was 
altered by being put out of frocks into knickerbockers and 
his hair cut short when very young. One day this child 
was taken by his father, at the age of four and a half, to 
the City, and sent back alone on the top of a 'bus that 
set him down at the end of the street in which he lived. 
He had been given sixpence to pay his fare, and, arriving 
at home safely, he proudly and triumphantly handed the 
change to his mother. This same child, at twelve years 
old, after leaving his private school, and before going to a 
public school, was sent to Paris to learn French. With a 
guide-book in one pocket and a map in the other, he found 
his way about alone all over the town. To my mind, pre- 



SONS 259 

cocity that comes from development of character and in- 
dependence, or from the stimulus of ambition, is as 
desirable as that resulting from over-excitement or over- 
bookwork is the contrary. 

As soon as children are no longer babies, it is very 
unwise to leave them much with servants. Little boys 
have no natural employments at home, especially in towns, 
when once they go to school. I should recommend parents 
who live in London to give up dining out during the winter 
holidays. It is only for four weeks, and the evenings at 
home with parents out are certainly dull for boys ; this 
applies doubly where there are no sisters. I used to 
think the perfect education for boys was the foreign way, 
to Hve at home and attend a day school : but the universal 
condemnation of this system by young Englishmen has 
shaken me, and certainly we have hardly any machinery 
prepared for carrying it out. The pubHc school system, 
therefore, seems to be the only one here. At any rate, 
boys are brought up at school in the mythologies of their 
time and country, as Huxley used to recommend ; and on 
the whole that seems to answer best. The thing most to 
be avoided, it appears to me as I look back on life, is 
bringing up children on any sort of fad, however genuine 
the conviction of the parents that they are right and other 
people wrong. There is no mistaking the bitterness with 
which young men talk if they have been brought up in 
any way that alienates them from their generation. This 
applies equally to great and little things — from the training 
of the strict Anglican clergyman, or in the Agnostic's 
morality, to affectations in dress or peculiarities of diet. 

It is important that parents should not be unduly 
elated by good school reports, for they mean but little. 
The typical top-of-the-class boy, a good plodding fellow 
who gives no trouble, is always a favourite with the 
master, but he hardly ever does anything in after-life 

s2 



26o POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

An idle, naughty boy sometimes reaches the top out of 
sheer talent ; but that is quite a different matter. These 
things always depend a good deal on temperament. If you 
are stupid, it is easier to become good than to become 
clever ; and you must never forget that, for the tortoises 
to win the race, the hares must go to sleep — and that is 
just what does not happen in these days. The world of 
school is an immense experience in itself, but a world 
represented by one sex alone is apt to give only a narrow 
and one-sided training. The necessary discipHne, too, 
by which a school is regulated gives but little scope for 
boys to learn how to take care of themselves in the every- 
day world outside of it. It is only in the holidays that 
they can gain any experience as to the management of 
their lives, or — and above all — the employment of their 
time independently of rule. I once asked a boy how he 
made up his mind at school about what was right and 
what was wrong. He looked up, and said without 
hesitation, ' I always try and think what father would 
say about it.' At school, morality and public opinion 
can be as little decided by hard-and-fast rules as in the 
world. There, as in after-hfe, always speaking the truth 
without reserve, especially when it concerns others, may 
resolve itself into being only a form of self-indulgence. 
A great many mothers recognise this when it is bi-ought 
home to them that their boy has refused to speak the 
truth in a way that would implicate others. At the same 
time parents seldom put it plainly before a boy that there 
may be occasions when it is a far higher standard of 
morality to bear personal blame than to implicate others 
by speaking the truth. He ought not to have the 
additional pain of fearing he is doing that which would 
displease his parents, and is contrary to the principle of 
simple and direct truthfulness which has been inculcated 
at home. I hope nobody, on reading this, will imagine 



SONS 261 

that I am advocating want of truthfulness as a principle, or 
that I doubt for a moment that the fact of speaking truth 
intentionally, even to the injury of self, is one of the most 
essential strengtheners of man's moral nature. It does 
not always come naturally, however, as many imaginative 
children lie, and weaklings are sure to lie, hate it as they 
may, for it is the certain fruit of fear. Jean Paul Richter 
speaks of it in the following terms : — ' Lying, that devour- 
ing cancer of the inner man, is more severely judged and 
defined by the feeling of nations than by philosophers. 
The Greeks, who suffered their gods to commit as many 
crimes with impunity as their present representatives, the 
gods of the earth, do yet condemn them for perjury — that 
root and quintessence of a lie — to pass a year of lifelessness 
under the ground in Tartarus, and then to endure nine 
years of torments. The ancient Persian taught his child 
nothing in the whole circle of morahty but truthfulness.' 

Truthfulness is so essential to moral superiority that 
any young man who consistently acts a part in life for 
ambitious or other reasons is very apt to become morally 
degenerate, and hardly able to distinguish between truth 
and falsehood. It is one of the things which, when 
discovered, is perhaps almost unduly punished by the 
contempt showered on it by contemporaries. It has been 
finely said, ' Principle is a passion for truth.' 

While boys are still at school, is it not distinctly 
wrong for both parents to be away and out of easy reach 
at the same time ? Accidents so often happen, and school 
authorities, more especially school doctors and surgeons, 
are not to be depended upon, as they cannot give the 
time and attention which a boy naturally receives at 
home. If the eyes of love could be bought with money, 
love would not mean very much in the world ; and it does 
mean a good deal, in spite of what many think, and, still 
more, of what many say. 



262 POT-rOURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

The common attitude of mind of intelligent boys who 
have recently gone to school, is that they know every- 
thing about life, and that their mother understands 
nothing. The boy thinks his mother good, and that no 
good women know anything of life ; and that settles the 
question. As he gets older, the mother must explain to 
him what she thinks proper. These matters, however, 
depend so much upon the character of the mother and son 
that it is impossible to generalise upon them. Mothers 
will, I think, rai'ely get much help from the fathers on 
the subject of school life. Most men have a wonderful 
knack of forgetting the difldculties of their own boyhood. 
The influence and example of the father in the home is 
immense. What he does, the boys will probably wish to 
do. Direct help in the difficulties of boy-hfe comes much 
more from the mother than from the father. For this 
reason I should say that the mother must take every pains 
to educate herself, and learn to understand as much about 
human nature as she possibly can. A course of Fi-ench 
novel-reading — and, after all, a great many Fi-ench novels 
are magnificent literature — is not otherwise than a harm- 
less and yet useful way of eating of the tree of knowledge 
for a mother of five-and-thirty. The Fi-ench have an 
extraordinarily honest way of facing the facts of life and 
the results of conduct, and they are far less sentimental 
than the EngHsh. This advice, of course, applies doubly 
to the woman who has not read French novels for her 
amusement in her youth. From the time a boy first 
goes to school, and still more, I think, when he is six- 
teen or seventeen, the mother should put a strong guard 
on herself not to worry him about his comings and goings, 
or in any way restrict his independence, as the sooner he 
learns to take care of himself the better. As regards the 
really serious things of life, you should not ' nag,' but 
up to a certain age you can forbid. 



SONS 263 

For a boy of seventeen, I believe it to be a very wise 
thing, as an inti'oduction to life, that he should be given a 
latch-key. He is then proud of the privilege and much 
less likely to abuse it than if only given to him when he 
is much older. To deny it altogether to young men who 
are living at home seems to me both irritating and 
ridiculous. So many of the serious sorrows and 
troubles of life come from ignorance, rather than from 
wickedness, that it is advisable to send the boy of about 
this age to some friendly, worldly-wise, intelligent doctor, 
asking him beforehand to give the boy as much advice 
and instruction as a man of twenty-four might have learnt 
from bitter experience. 

One of the most useful things a boy can be taught 
at home is the value of money. With a well-trained 
sensible boy a half-allowance for clothes should be begun 
at twelve years old (by a half-allowance I mean an 
allowance that includes pocket-money and is sufficient to 
buy every article of dress except cloth clothes), and at four- 
teen the allowance should cover all clothes and pocket- 
money. When allowances are first given, be sure that the 
boy starts fair with a sufficient stock of clothes, so that 
he should not be handicapped from the beginning. The 
best way to manage the allowance, having fixed the sum, 
is for the father or mother to be the banker. The amount 
of the yearly sum should be clearly made known to the 
boy, and he should draw the money himself when he 
requires it, as he would, later in life, from a real banker. 
This gives the parent a certain control over dispi-opor- 
tionate expenditure. Accounts should not be insisted 
upon, nor even, I think, strongly urged, and, above all, 
never looked at. What is desirable is constantly to 
recommend the purchasing of useful things first, and to 
watch a little that everything is paid for with ready money, 
and the bills kept. So long as the world lasts, the 



264 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

prodigal by nature — not from mere want of training — 
and those who spend rather more money than they have, 
will always be more fascinating than the careful ones. 
The rash, the impetuous, and the thoughtlessly generous, 
must ever prove the heart- winners ; and yet those who 
abet them are the first to turn on them when they are at 
the bottom of the hill or in a ditch by the roadside. 
Because of this, parents should force themselves to be 
more willing to kill the fatted calf for the saving child 
than for the prodigal. This should be impressed 
upon the sons from their earliest years. In the case of a 
parent really wishing to pay an extravagant son's bills, the 
hardship of it will be brought home to the son if the 
parent obliges himself to give an equal sum to the other 
children who have not got into debt. I am told that 
giving allowances to young boys is extremely rare. I 
consider it of fundamental importance in their education. 
Where it fails, it is an indication of character that is full 
of anxiety for the future, a serious evil to be faced, like 
hip-disease or a crooked spine. As a rule, everything is 
provided for boys till the most dangerous time in their 
Uves, and then people are surprised that young men don't 
know how to proportion their expenditure to their means, 
which practice is the only wise one for rich or poor. 
Everyone is rich who has a margin, and everyone is poor 
who spends more than he has. To many people what I 
have just said will appear as giving a very undue pre- 
ponderance to the management of money. Admitting 
the wisdom of what was said of old, ' The love of money 
is a root of all kinds of evil,' it is equally true that the 
discreet management of money is the root of all kinds of 
good, especially with young people. Nothing is so selfish 
as extravagance. No one can doubt the truth, as put 
by the modern writer who says : ' Never treat money 
affairs with levity — money is character.' If you can say 



SONS 265 

of your children, when they are twenty-one, that they 
have never been in debt and have never asked you for 
money, you have attained a satisfactory platform, which 
will enormously help the dignity of the situation. Such 
children's minds have not been pauperised, and the parent 
has not been put into the difficult and painful position of 
having to refuse or yield to a beggar. Children, on the 
other hand, should be helped to remember that, however 
free they may be left as regards the expenditure of their 
own allowances, no man, woman, or child is free while 
entirely dependent on money which they neither earn 
nor possess by inheritance. How often does a son, fresh 
from leaving school, who is dying to go for a visit or a 
holiday, or to buy a gun or a dog, go first to his mother, 
of whom he is not afraid, to plead his cause with his 
father for the money he wants ! This is a distinctly 
wrong system, whether the father is rich or poor, an 
extravagant man himself, or the contrary. If the boy 
gets what he wants at once, he accepts it as a right, and is 
quite ready at Christmas to ask for more. If it is denied or 
grudgingly given, he resents it with irritation as a want 
of generosity and a needless check on his pleasures. 
Whereas, if the amount of the allowance is from the first 
proportioned to the income of the parents, it is brought 
home to their minds what the children are likely to cost 
them ; while the boy is made to realise that, be the 
allowance large or small, his expenses must be propor- 
tioned to it. In the case of really poor parents it is 
especially necessary to impress upon the whole family 
that, with regard to pleasures, education, or even 
necessities, everything is subservient to the fact that 
money can only go as far as it will. Of course, if it were 
necessary, or even desirable, each member of a family 
might contribute what he or she can afford to the 
advantage of one member of it. Not a bad illustration of 



266 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

what I mean is touchingly told in the Life of Sir James 
Simpson, the famous Edinburgh doctor. All his elder 
brothers contributed to educate the clever youth, above 
their station in life, for a profession of which he became 
so distinguished an ornament. 

Once more I ask you to consider how common it 
seems in human nature that people will give what they 
are asked for and bothered about, rather than what they 
can afford. However much this weakness may be taken 
advantage of in the charitable world, it is most desirable 
that it should be kept out of family life. Some people 
even put forward the objection that allowances check the 
growth of generosity. As a matter of fact, the very 
essence of generosity is to give what is your own, and, in 
the highest sense, there is no generosity without self- 
denial. Often no one appears so genei'ous as the worldly 
spendthrift, who gives with a free hand what in fact he 
owes to his tradespeople. Another idea is that the 
independence resulting from freedom in money matters 
increases the ditliculty of home life. This is markedly 
more the case in England than in other European 
countries. Nations are so unconsciously steeped in the 
atmosphere of their literature that I have often won- 
dered whether ' King Lear ' has helped to bring about 
the state of mind in parents who, though most anxious 
to leave money to their children after death, yet so 
grudgingly deal it out to them, either in allowance or 
capital, during their lifetime. One of tlie amusing 
anomalies of the new succession duties is that they have 
induced many parents, who have never thought of it 
before, to pay over while they are still alive a portion 
of their capital to their children. This gives a young 
man an experience in money management which he could 
not have gained while only receiving an allowance. 

A frequent mistake of parents, even when they think 



SONS 267 

a great deal about their children, is the conviction that 
they know them so well. After a child grows up and his 
nature develops, his one idea is to go forth and make his 
own friends and start his own life ; and when he comes back 
to the home, however much his heart warms to it when he 
is away, he re-enters it with different eyes, and often with 
a critical spirit. This seems very hard to the parents, who 
have changed but little. The best way of making their love 
appreciated is not to exact more than they get. The real 
time of trial to parents is when their children are between 
seventeen and twenty-one. They would do well to realise 
how little they know of the change that is going on in their 
sons. They can only cultivate them, humour them, and, 
if possible, win them. Till this has been done, it is 
absolutely useless to expect their confidence or to resent 
the fact that it is withheld. The more openly a child has 
been brought up and encouraged to speak his mind, the 
more odious and critical his language will appear at this 
age to outsiders who do not realise how far better it is that 
he should express his views without reserve at home than 
that he should disguise his feelings there and speak openly 
abroad. It should only be impressed upon children that it 
is in better taste and more according to the rules of society 
to keep their criticisms for the privacy of family life. 

The judicious management of parents by good sons 
and daughters often makes a home seem happy for a 
time ; but I think a few open and even angry discussions 
are wholesomer for the characters of the young than a 
trained duplicity implying peace where there is no peace. 
In our present civilisation, no one being can rule the 
destiny of another by force, not even in the case of a 
father and his children. I think it well to remember in 
our homes Swift's saying that ' Government without the 
consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery, 
though eleven men well armed will certainly subdue one 



268 I'Or I'OURKI I'ROM A SURRICY C.ARDKN 

singUi iiiiui in liiH whirfc.' A fiiUuir cannot, ^ct tho cloven 
men, so ho had bottor not try to govern in thiw spirit. His 
only power, if he Iohoh tl)o alToetion aiul n^Hpcct of hia 
chil(h-(!ii, iH that base and ign()I)le one given by money, 
which 'in tho caHo of uieii, at any rate— is poworless 
against the noljlfwt and best. All people, both young and 
old, should reni(!inber the wise saying that we never foel 
so iiuu;li at eaH(( with our conseicMUHiH as when w(i are 
dwelling coniplaccintly on tlio faults of others. 

There will always \m mon and womon, but perhaps 
more jnen than women, who n,ll tludugh life believe in 
hick thos(i wlio think when things go wi-ong that thoy 
have ])o.vi\ c.lK^iitcd and fr iisifal,(ul by others, whereas 
nothing hjis luipixMuul but what was bound to }ia))pon. 
Mon of this stamp often endmo lifo b(!roi(!ally and aro 
clovor, inventive, interesting human beings ; but they are 
ruled by oircumstancoa, instead of ruling them : they 
submit to life, instead of making it. 

1 must not omit to mention a book, ealhul ' Notes from 
Life,' by Hir Ifonry Tayloi-. It is out of fashion and 
forgotten now, but it made a very groat impression upon 
me in my youth. Sir Heiuy Taylor, as everyone knows, 
was the author of 'Philip Van Ai-tev(^ld(' : a Dranuitic 
Romanoo.' This work made him famous at tlui time of 
its publication ; it is still read by students of I'lnglish 
litdiature, and there is no grandei" subject for a dramatist 
than the moulding of tough natui'es. I believe it was 
never put on the stage ; and, after all, an unactable play 
must always remain a kind of literary mulo. Sir Ilonry 
Taylor bound himsc^lf to us most tenderly by writing a 
poem in nuimory of my fatlier, who died at Nice in 1843. 
it was reprinted in Sir Jlenry's autobiography a few 
years a,go. One of the most distinguished of our Loi'd 
CMiancellois described it to me as the finest memorial 
poem in the l*jnglish language. What little worldly 



SONS 269 

philosophy I acquired in my youth I learnt from Sir 
Henry. The ' Notes from Life ' are on Money, Humility 
and Independence, Choice in Marriage, Wisdom, Children 
The Life Poetic, and Tho Ways of the Eich and Great. 
In spite of all that has been written on such subjects 
since, I still think the book well worth reading. The 
tone of the articles is more religious than would be the 
case now if written by a man who held the same broad 
and elastic views that he did. He belonged essentially to 
that large band of good and wise men who never tell 
their religion, but his language in these essays is that of 
the fashion of his time. The essays called ' Money,' 
' Marriage,' and ' Children ' seem to me now as interesting 
and suggestive as when I first read them. 

In 1892 a little book was published called ' Mothers 
and Sons.' It made some impression on a good many 
mothers, and this is not surprising, as it was written by the 
successful headmaster of a public school. I cannot but 
differ widely from a book which, while it professes to 
ted,ch a mother's duty to her son, ignores all reference to 
the husband and father. The tact of mothers is dis- 
puted in the introduction, and it cannot be denied that 
women vary very much in their successful management 
of children and servants, and these two go pretty much 
together. But, however much a father may leave the 
training and management of his sons to their mother, 
his blood runs in their veins, his example is daily before 
them, and what he is they will be, more or less. 
Heredity, I admit, sometimes plays us strange pranks ; 
but I think, if people will honestly look round on the 
circle of their acquaintances, they will find, in nine cases 
out of ten, that the stamp of the children belongs to the 
name they bear — to the family of the father, not of the 
mother. The tone of a child's mind, especially a boy's, is 
very much what was represented in one of 'Punch's' 



2 70 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

pictures some years ago — a manly young monkey standing 
up before his mother and saying : ' What a happy day it 
was for you, mother, when you married into our family ! ' 
I should not have alluded to the headmaster's book 
at all but for the very cordial way I agree with 
Chapter IV., called ' Food.' The following passage 
seems to me entirely true : — ' Pendulums have a way of 
swinging ; and if starvation or under-feeding was a danger 
to boys thirty years ago, it is luxury and over-feeding 
with which the sons of nearly all classes are threatened 
in 1892.' No one advocates more strongly than I do 
that young children should be wholesomely and suf- 
ficiently fed (the size of the body depends on this with all 
animals), even to the point of occasional stomach attacks. 
The moment, however, that a child is not well, parents 
should realise that what weakens it is — not the want of 
food which it refuses to swallow, but the fever brought 
on by internal derangement from overloading the stomach. 
Noai'ly all sick children like fruit, and I think, if fruit and 
bread alone were given them for a day or two, they 
would generally get well without any doctor or medi- 
cines. Of course, if the nurse insists on giving just a 
little magnesia as well, the whole thing is spoilt. Fruit 
does not do with any form of alkaline drug. It is most 
important to keep to one treatment or the other — the 
acid or the alkaline ; if not, the poor child's inside is 
turned into a saline draught. The author points out, 
with great severity and truth, the absurdity of the fact 
that boys are fed in the most stimulating way on meat, 
wine, and beer. If, as is sometimes the case, the wine 
and beer are knocked off, they are doubly allowed and 
encouraged to eat as much as they like, which, in order 
to live healthily, they have to work off by playing for 
hours at football and cricket. Inconsistently enough, they 
seem to acknowledge that, for rowing, heavy eating is 



SONS 271 

bad. The athlete and the Alpine climber know it well. 
It is proverbial that the navvy, who is said to eat 
enormously with a view to keeping up his strength, is 
worth nothing at all in the way of work by the time he is 
forty. Nowhere are gout and rheumatism so prevalent, 
in spite of the beauty of the climate, as in Australia, 
where meat is cheap, and people live principally upon it. 
I maintain that if more, and more decided, abstinence 
were enjoined, there would be no necessity for the 
number of hours that are now wasted in exercise. Mr. 
John Morley, in a recent speech to some schools, refers 
to this point. He says : ' Is there not a little too much 
addiction to pleasure nowadays? Do not young men 
attend rather more to their athletics and sports than is 
wholly good ? This was what had been said :— In 
Germany, young men who were going into the family 
business travelled and acquired languages, and learnt to 
know the tastes and habits of the natives. In England 
the sons of the house devoted themselves to pleasure — to 
billiards, the theatre, sport, and so on. In Germany the 
father said, " Thank God I have a son ! " In England 
the son said, "Thank God I have a father!"' Mr. 
Morley wound up, after saying that those who worked 
hard ought to have pleasure, as follows : — ' There was no 
doubt, taking the country as a whole, that pleasure and 
sport were now absorbing an amount of time and mental 
occupation which must block out some other objects to 
which it would be well if men and women paid atten- 
tion.' The way to diminish exercise without loss of 
health is by the very economical method of diminishing 
food, especially food of that kind which is well known to 
increase muscle. From the little I know of French 
schools it seems to me that the exercise there is very 
inadequate. We are told that Germany is our successful 
rival in many forms of physical prowess and staying power. 



272 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

in spite of education being more complete and universal 
in that country. Is it not possible that they adjust the 
balance better between study and muscular development? 

I am often accused by my friends of being too 
ambitious — indeed, worldly-minded — from caring too 
much for the success in life of those whom I know 
well and am fond of. The justification to myself of this 
accusation, the truth of which I admit, is that the youth 
of life is a time of preparation, and if we get no results — 
no outward demonstration — that when a man has done 
his best he has done well, it seems to me like going up 
for an examination and then not caring if you pass, like 
acting to empty houses, writing books which no one 
reads, painting pictures which no one buys, or losing 
money instead of making it. Every now and then a 
genius is passed over by his generation and acknow- 
ledged later on, but this is the exception. Broadly 
speaking, the average get very much what they deserve, 
and, in vaguely generalising, one can only speak of the 
average. I do think that, having travelled half the 
road of life, we have a right to expect moderate success, 
and to feel disappointed if we do not get it. I am sure 
to be asked, perhaps a little scoffingly, 'What do you 
mean by success ? Happiness ? ' No, certainly not. 
What I mean is easy to understand, though diflScult to 
define. It is the generally-accepted meaning of success, 
perhaps in its lowest sense, the contrary of failure ; and I 
mean the same as Mr. Morley does when he speaks of 
success in the following words: — 'It is the bitterest 
element in the vast irony of human life that the time- 
worn eyes to which a son's success would have brought 
the purest gladness are so often closed for ever before 
success has come.' 

If the fashion grows of parents handing over to 
children some of the money which would otherwise come 



SONS 273 

to them onl}^ after their parents' death, the habit of early 
saving when expenses are increased on first leaving home 
might enable young people to live much more economically 
than they have done in the luxurious houses where they 
have been brought up. Anybody who remembers the 
accounts of the childhoods of our grandfathers and 
grandmothers will realise what a garret life the children 
of rich people led at the beginning of the century. The 
following anecdote is a small instance in point : — My 
grandparents were very rich, and spent 60,000Z. on the 
Parliamentary election of their eldest son. My mother, 
who came in the middle of a large family, has often 
described to me how underfed she was as a child, and 
how she would gladly pick up and eat the sucked crusts 
dropped by the babies on the nursery floor. Another of the 
terrors of her childhood was that during the cold Northern 
winters the nurserymaid used to be sent down to break 
the ice on a fountain in the yard, where the children 
were habitually bathed, as a means of strengthening 
them. She also remembered the keen delight with 
which they welcomed the news that the ice was un- 
breakable. When they grew up, after seventeen their 
life was merged into that of their parents, and my 
mother used to wonder what they would think of her — 
she had seen so little of them during her childhood. 

This bringing-up may certainly have had the effect of 
enabling the children of the rich to make poorer mar- 
riages than they are willing to do now after being nursed 
in the lap of luxury from their infancy. Poor marriages 
can be very happy if both parties realise what they 
undertake, and if the husband belongs to a profession 
where an increase of income is possible, and where his 
professional expenditure and the position he has to main- 
tain are not out of all proportion to his income as a 
married man. Members of society who marry poor 

T 



274 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

make a great mistake in thinking that by living even as 
many as eighteen years in retirement they will lose all 
their friends in a w^ay that would prove disadvantageous 
either to themselves or their children. The friends of 
our youth are our contemporaries, and we never can 
forget or meet on terms of formality the men and women 
with whom we once were intimate. The first word that 
drops from the lips, on meeting after years of separation, 
is, as often as not, the old familiar Christian name. 

More than thirty years ago the following little poem 
was given to me as having been v^ritten in fun by James 
Spedding, the distinguished author of the Life of Bacon. 
I thrilled with excitement when I first read it, which will 
not surprise anyone who remembers the position between 
youth and age fifty years ago. The young were supposed 
to be fooHsh, the old to be all wisdom and experience. 
Now this is so changed that the old are having rather 
a bad time ; and the truth contained in this poem still 
appeals to me, though from an entirely different point of 
view. Whether we are so fortunate as to have children, 
or so unfortunate as not to have them, it makes, in my 
opinion, no difference. Once we have reached a certain 
age, the sensible thing is to acknowledge that our lives 
are more or less over. The best way we can then serve 
our country, or give dignity and happiness to our old age, 
is to lend aU the help in our power to the young — in fact, 
always to be ready to open the door to those who are 
knocking. 



THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN 

When I was a freshman, old age did appear 

A reverend and beautiful thing ; 
For knowledge must gather as year follows year, 

And wisdom from knowledge should spring. 



SONS 275 

But I found the same years that supplied me with 
knowledge 

Took the power to digest it away, 
And let out all the store I had gathered at college 

Through leaks that increased every day. 

So I said— and think not I said it in jest 

(You will find it is true to the letter)— 
That the only thing old people ought to know best 

Is that young people ought to know better. 



t2 



276 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



FUBNISHING 

Books on furnishing — Smoking — Morris's 'Lectures on Art' — London 
houses — New and second-hand furniture — Curtains vcrsns blinds 
— White paint — Bookcases — Bed-rooms — Bath-rooms — Bedding 
— Useful tables — Eain-water. 

I MUST give you a few of my views about furnishing, 
especially as I cannot say to you, ' Get such-and-such a 
book, and you will know all I know.' I can name no book 
that seems to me at all satisfactory on modern furnishing. 
One pubhshed in 1887 and called ' Prom Kitchen to 
Garret,' by J. E. Panton, has gone through many 
editions, and contains useful and practical hints, but I do 
not at all agree with a good deal that it says. It recom- 
mends what I call upholstering far too much, and the 
overcrowding and decorating of rooms, and is not nearly 
simple enough. I should say to any young housekeeper, 
* Get the book and learn what you can from it, but reserve 
to yourself a very keen judgment about many things that 
it advises.' As an example, I will mention that the 
author grudges a man, as a matter of expense (!), his 
cigarette and cigar. I know no one single thing that 
gives a woman half the pleasure that smoking gives a 
man ; so, as an economy, many things in a house might be 
given up first. If smoking is supposed to be bad for a 
man, persuade him to smoke less ; and I believe there is no 
better way of inducing him to do this than to allow him to 
smoke in every room in the house — drawing-room, dining- 
room, mother's bedroom, nursery. There is no greater 



FURNISHING 



277 



proof that a house is kept sweet and aired, and therefore 
healthy, than the fact that no room ever smeUs of tobacco. 
After many years' experience in all sorts of houses, small 
and large, country and town, I can vouch for it that no 
house ever does smell of smoke, if cigarettes, cigars, and 
pipes are allowed everywhere, provided only that a 
thorough draught can be got through the rooms. I well 
know how sensitive some people are about tobacco, but it 
is wonderful how much this dislike can be overcome by 
custom and a desire to do so. A smoking-room other- 
wise than as a man's general room, where he can read and 
write, is, I think, a very objectionable thing, and con- 
ducive to a great waste of time. Let a man smoke 
during his employments, and not look upon smoking as 
an occupation in itself. People should guard against the 
sentiment of the cheerful country hostess who received 
her guest with ' This is Liberty Hall ; you can smoke in 
the garden.' 

Another book, called ' How to be Happy though 
Married ' (Fisher Unwin), has had an immense sale, and 
is a much cleverer, better-written book than its rather 
flippant title might lead one to suppose. I strongly re- 
commend it to young housewives. It has a short chapter 
on furnishing, with which I cordially agree, and much in 
the book is well worth reading and remembering. 

Mr. William Morris's ' Lectures on Art,' pubhshed in 
1881, helped me more than any other book I know ; it 
cultivated my ideas and refined my taste. The first time 
I went to Mr, Morris's old shop in Queen's Square, quite 
as a girl, it was indeed a revelation. It had the effect of 
a sudden opening of a window in a dark room. All was 
revealed — the beauty of simplicity, the usefulness of form, 
the fascination of design, and the charm of delicate colour. 
Added to this, came the appreciation of the things that 
had gone before, and which in my time had been hidden 



■"*«|i> 



2)8 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN j 

away. I came back to the various houses to which I had 
been accustomed with a sigh of despair ; but the first step 
towards progress must always be discontent with what 
one has and with one's own ignorance. It has sometimes 
been a sorrow to me to see, in the Oxford Street shop, 
that even Mr. Morris did not keep up entirely the high 
and simple standard of his early years. He has some 
golden rules in the lecture called ' The Beauty of Life,' 
perhaps the truest and most concise of which is one that 
none of us really act up to : ' Have nothing in your houses 
that you do not know to be useful or believe to be 
beautiful.' What would happen to the great mass of 
modern wedding-presents if we really carried out this 
rule ? Mr. Morris preaches the sternest simplicity, and 
I must say, as a mental effort, I think we ought to try 
and agree with him ; though rooms, to my mind, should 
look warm and comfortable, and simplicity had better 
consist in an absence of rubbish than in a diminution of 
comfort. Mr. Morris goes on to explain what he means 
by a simple sitting-room : ' First, a bookcase with a great 
many books in it; next, a table that will keep steady 
when you write or work at it ; then several chairs that 
you can move, and a bench that you can sit or lie upon ; 
next, a cupboard with drawers ; next, unless the book- 
case or the cupboard be very beautiful with painting or 
carving, you will want pictures or engravings such as 
you can afford — only not stop-gaps, but real works of art 
— on the wall ; or else the wall itself must be ornamented 
with some beautiful and restful pattern. We shall also 
want a vase or two to put flowers in, which latter you 
must have sometimes, especially if you live in a town. 
Then there will be the fireplace, of course, which in our 
climate is bound to be the chief object in the room. 

' That is all we shall want, especially if the floor be 
good ; if it is not— as, by the way, in a modern house it is 



FURNISHING 279 

pretty well certain not to be — I admit that a small carpet 
which can be bundled out of the room in two minutes will 
be useful : and we must also take care that it is beautiful, 
or it will annoy us terribly. Now, unless we are 
musical and need a piano, in which case, as far as beauty 
is concerned, we are in a bad way, that is quite all we 
want, and we can add very little to these necessaries 
without troubling ourselves and hindering our work, our 
thought, and our rest.' After this description, think how 
very rare it is to see a room on these lines at all. One of 
the most disfiguring and vulgar forms of modern 
ornamentation is sticking about quantities of photographs 
— masses of men and women of our acquaintance, or 
royalties and celebrities. I do not mean that we should 
not have one or two framed photographs, of dear friends or 
relations ; for certainly, in a small degree, photographs of 
those we love do fulfil Dr. Johnson's description of 
portrait-painting : ' That art which is employed in diffus- 
ing friendship, in reviving tenderness, in quickening the 
affections of the absent and continuing the presence of 
the dead.' 

Mr. Morris spoke of the fireplace as such an im- 
portant thing in our climate ; it is so indeed. One of the 
first essentials is that it should not smoke or be ugly, and 
another is that it should give out much heat with little 
consumption of coal. I consider the greatest increase of 
delight possible in any kind of fireplace, no matter of what 
size or make, is to have a very broad hearth of tiles, or 
bricks, or stone, or marble, or anything of that sort that is 
hard and fireproof, and then do away with every form of 
fender or raised rim round the hearth. People have an 
idea that this is not safe ; but that is an entire mistake. 
To be able to stand easily on the hot tiles is an immense 
joy added to life, and one much appreciated by men. 
Even for children instead of tumbling over the low fender, 



28o PO'1-l'OUKRl I'ROM A SURREY GARDEN 

which is a roal danger, they soon feel the heat, and that 
warns tliem to keep away from the hearth. But it is 
essential that the health should be wider than is usual, 
both for appearance and safety ; and if a finish is thought 
desirable between the tiles and tlie floor, a flat band, three 
or four inches wide, of brass or iron looks very well — but 
it is not necessary. The fire-irons should bo on a stand 
apart, or put against the chimneypiece on hooks, or in a 
hoop of iron or brass. Notliing, of course, supersedes the 
high wire fender for safety in nurseries and schoolrooms. 
White tiles as a lining for the sides, grates, and hearths of 
fireplaces are not often used, but to my mind they are far 
prettier than dark tiles, if the chimneypiece is made of 
light-coloured marble or white wood, as is so common. 
The adapting and improving of what we find in builders' 
houses is one of our modern diliiculties. 

Mr. Morris is severe on pianos, and it must be 
admitted they are very ugly, but great attention is now 
being given to improving them. One simple inexpensive 
way of doing so is to have the case very plain ; the 
music-desk plain bars, instead of ornamental fret-work ; 
and the whole left absolutely without varnish or polish. 
The housemaid's rubbing only improves the marking on 
the grain of the wood. 

In Londoii everything ought to bo sacrificed to sweet- 
ness and light. Let no one put on their walls or their 
floors that whicli tliey cannot afford constantly to renew. 
In an ordinary London house, merely keeping things 
clean one year with anothei", inside and out, adds a con- 
siderable sum yearly to the rent. 

I have found it very clean and useful to wash the 
corners and sides of the window-panes with Sanitas, 
especially in the country in spring. It destroys the eggs 
of flies and insects of all kinds, and in no way injures the 
paint. It saves waste to lay on the Sanitas with a brush. 



FURNISHING 281 

In London nowadays the houses of the young are 
freshly done up and clean and healthy. Where I find the 
greatest sanitary neglect is in the homes of the middle- 
aged, especially those who have lived long in one place. 
Even in the houses of rich and well-to-do people, in 
London, the dirt in the upstairs rooms and passages is 
inconceivable. The mistress of the house is lazy or in- 
different ; and as we get older, the years run on so quickly 
it is impossible to reahse how long it is since the 
last cleaning; nothing is ever looked over, replaced, or 
renewed. A favourite economy, and one to which the 
best of housekeepers have a tendency, is to put old 
carpets out of dining-rooms or drawing-rooms into bed- 
rooms of boys and girls, often without even going to the 
expense of having them cleaned. The painted floor and 
a small piece of new drugget, clean and sweet, would be 
infinitely more healthy and more appropriate. Another 
constantly neglected corner is what is called the house- 
maid's closet. In houses where servants are not much 
looked after, and even where they are, this is often the 
glory-hole of dirt. I recommend the use of the white 
enamel slop-pails, which are so infinitely easier to keep 
clean than the old painted tin ones, though they, too, are 
quite clean if they are only repainted often enough. The 
whole system of living and housekeeping in England is 
still sacrificed far too much to show — large sitting-rooms, 
small bed-rooms, and unclean attics. However, things 
are infinitely better than they used to be. In the last 
century one or two footmen used to sleep on mattresses in 
the front hall of the crowded little houses in Mayfair; 
and even in my childhood the custom of putting three or 
four men or women into one room was quite a usual thing. 

To those about to furnish I would say, ' Never buy new 
things when you can get them second-hand.' Procure an 
ordinary illustrated price list from one of the large 



2 82 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

furnishing shops, and with that, by which to test prices, 
go to second-hand shops and sales. If you get a well- 
made second-hand piece of furniture that you really 
want for the same price as, or cheaper than, you could 
buy painted or varnished deal — well, you know you 
have not done badly. If you buy an old bookcase, or 
table, or sofa, for even a little more than you would 
give for the inferior modern ones, you may still congratu- 
late yourself. 

The only marked difference that I can see between 
my house and most others, both in the country and in 
London, is that I never have a roller blind. They are 
expensive to put up, expensive to maintain, and very 
difficult to keep clean in London. I never have them 
in my own rooms, in bed-rooms or servants' rooms, in 
the stable or gardener's cottage. What I do have is an 
inner curtain hung from a small rod on the window. It 
can be made of any variety of material, to suit the 
different windows and the requirements of the room — 
thin silk (the effects of Hght through silk — orange, red, 
yellow, or green — are very pretty), chintz, musUn, or the 
thickest dark blue or green twill lined with calico, to keep 
out light in the bedrooms in the country (in London I 
think light blue or green twiU unlined is sufficient) ; and 
the most useful of all is the common red Turkey twill, 
lined or unlined, which washes year after year, and always 
looks fresh, clean, and bright, and practically never wears 
out. In many modern windows these inner curtains enable 
you to dispense with heavy outside curtains altogether — to 
my mind an advantage, as drawn curtains almost always 
make a room stuffy and nearly as airless as did the 
shutters of our forefathers. All the same, thick curtains 
are, of course, required in the country in winter for 
warmth. For an outside effect in London, it is very 
pretty if the wood of the window is painted dark or light 



FURNISHING 283 

green, red, or blue, and if the silk curtains inside are of 
the same colour to match the paint. 

On first doing up a house, keep as many rooms as you 
can plainly whitewashed (' white distemper ' it is called) , 
but see that it is white, and not mixed with black, blue, or 
yellow, such as painters delight in using. I think every- 
thing looks well against a white wall. Covering a wall 
with coarse canvas and then distempering it gives a 
variety to the surface. Some people think white walls 
unbecoming. I cannot agree with this. What suits the 
rose and the tulip as a background ought to suit a 
pretty woman in her pretty clothes. In a white room 
dark furniture never looks heavy (not even the darkest 
oak), and light furniture never looks poor. But white rooms 
must be kept clean, as ceilings are. This necessity is a 
great merit, and renewing is not expensive. [If staircases 
or passages are white-washed, a dado, about a yard deep 
up the side of the staircase and along the passage, of 
frilled cretonne, twilled red calico, or anything cheap, is 
an excellent way of protecting the waU from all the many 
injuries that happen to it. If you like, you can have one 
such dado for winter and one for summer, and they can 
be washed or cleaned. They look best frilled onto a thin 
lath of wood which pulls out. Eings are sewn on the 
back for hanging the curtain onto nails or hooks screwed 
into the wall at intervals.] If the wall is soft, another 
thin lath of wood must be nailed to it to hold the screws. 

In a white room a smaU piece of good drapery or old 
leather hung on the wall looks well, or even a few yards 
of very superior paper may be put in one place — between 
windows, over a chimney-piece, behind a picture, above a 
table, or under a bookcase. This form of decoration was 
the common one in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 
and was, in fact, the way in which tapestry came to be 
used. In the old French chateaux of Touraine the 



284 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

hooks that held these draperies, silks from Italy, and no 
doubt many other things, are still to be seen in the waUs. 
As the French Court moved from chateau to chateau, all 
this material moved with them. 

If bookcases can be made to order, they are much 
better raised a certain height on the wall. This is more 
convenient, as grubbing on the floor for the book one 
wants is very tiresome. Besides, in this way you can 
have the large books at the top, with a wide shelf above 
them, and the small ones below, the shelves gradually 
diminishing both in height and depth from the waU. 
Mr. Morris advocates, in his lectures, the painting of 
deal ; the only other way of treating it is simply to oil it. 
Mr. Morris, I think, says nothing about painting the 
floors. But that seems to me the best solution ; at any 
rate, for three feet round the room — red, green, black, and 
above all white as often as you like, especially for bed- 
rooms. Nothing is so clean, the paint wants no scrub- 
bing and no soda ; tepid water and a cloth make every- 
thing as clean as new. Staining, though a little cheaper? 
wears less well, will not wash, and looks common. 
Indian matting and felt look well in the country, but 
are not so clean in London. Both collect the black 
dust, and the former cannot be taken up. You want to 
be really rich to have polished floors of oak or teak. 
EngMsh housemaids cannot clean them, abroad it is 
always done by men. In London it has to be done by 
an upholsterer two or three times a year. 

If economy is an object in furnishing, one of the best 
ways of reducing the outlay in bed-rooms is by dispensing 
with the modern washing-stands. The old-fashioned ones 
are often too small for comfort ; our ancestors cleaned 
themselves with little room and less water. A large 
unvarnished deal table with the legs painted to suit the 
room is what I recommend. For cheapness it can be 



FURNISHING 285 

covered with white oil-cloth, nailed down ; though I prefer 
a thick white dimity cloth, which can be washed as often 
as necessaiy. For a luxurious washing-table, plain 
coloured square tiles, sunk into a bed of cement and held 
firm by a metal band, make a delightful surface. A great 
addition both to comfort and tidiness in all bed-rooms is 
to have a small or large cupboard, or curtained shelves (for 
bottles, &c.) above the washing-stand. A couple of shelves 
at the head of the bed is the best place for a bookshelf in 
a bed-room. It is such a pleasure, morning or night, to 
be able to reach, without having to get out of bed, the 
book that suits one's mood. 

Modern London builders have a most irritating way of 
repeating, in house after house, the most obvious defects. 
One of the worst of these is the bath : a large tin surface 
indifferently painted, which is quickly injured by the hot 
water, surrounded by a mahogany rim, the varnish of 
which is spotted and marked by every accessory necessary 
to the bath. One can hardly imagine anything more 
inappropriate. Doulton has invented a glazed earthen- 
ware bath which obviates all these objections, and would 
be more luxurious if the floor of the bath-room were 
raised nearly to the height of its rim ; the steps to reach 
this raised floor could be outside the room, or inside, 
according to the hanging of the door. One of the minor 
luxuries of life, often not found in the largest houses, is 
to have really hot water when you expect it. I have 
found that large cosies — the shape of tea-cosies— to go 
over the hot-water cans (one for the little can and one for 
the big), easily bring this luxury within the reach of 
everybody. They are made of chintz, or of any stuff that 
comes handy and suits the room, lined with sateen to 
tone with or contrast with the outside, and thickly 
wadded. If the water is put in really hot, and the cosies 
are thick and large enough to cover the can entirely, the 



286 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

water will keep hot till the morning. This, of course, is 
doubly useful when there are no fires. 

With all my recommendations about buying second- 
hand furniture, of course I do not mean to include bedding. 
I am old-fashioned enough to think that mattresses had 
always better come, though more expensive, from the best 
shops. If my general advice is to furnish simply, this 
applies doubly to nurseries and bed-rooms. In fact, these 
rooms should be of such a kind that if the surgeon or 
nurse entered them with a view to an operation, they 
would wish nothing altered — distempered walls, white 
or coloured, grave or gay, as suits the taste ; no carpets 
going into the corners, but broad margins of painted 
wood, white is the best. ' Oh, it shows the dirt so ! ' 
says the upholsterer or builder. ' So much the better,' 
should the owner of the house answer ; ' the dirt shown 
on white is harmless and clean compared to the dirt 
hidden by dark colours.' The curtains should be of 
the smallest and simplest kind, hung on a brass or iron 
rod, merely to keep out light or to make warmth ; they 
should never reach to the ground, unless the window 
does. 

It is a serviceable and clean plan to sew strips of 
holland or chintz, which can be removed and washed, on 
to the edge of the mattresses ; this prevents the house- 
maid's hands from dirtying them. I remember the day 
when all beds were covered with what are called counter- 
panes, which were even left on at night. But these now 
are universally acknowledged to be unwholesome, and, for 
the daytime, they have been superseded by some coloured 
coverlid. I like this coverlid, which keeps the blankets 
clean by day, and is folded up by night, to be the hand- 
somest feature in the room, though its material may vary 
from the cheapest twill or cretonne to the richest needle- 
work or damask-silk, old or modern. The walls can 



FURNISHING 287 

always be covered gradually by framed pictures, photo- 
graphs, or prints of all kinds. In a nursery, the choice 
of these photographs may make an impression for life, 
artistic or the contrary. A young man once said to me 
that in travelling in Italy one of the chief joys he felt in 
visiting the famous galleries was the recognition of a 
picture that had been an old familiar friend as a framed 
photograph at home. He added that, if ever he had 
children, he thought one of the best decorations for 
a nursery would be a dado made of photographs, of 
various sizes, of some of the masterpieces of the world. 
The difficulty of this would be that nurseries must be 
easily cleaned and renewed, and I think the photographs 
to form the dado would have to be stuck on to thick 
pasteboard or thin wood. 

I would allow all young people, both boys and girls, 
as much as possible to do the decorating and furnishing 
of their own rooms, limiting them, of course, to the sum 
intended to be spent. Taste in decorating, as in all else, 
is a constant cause of difference, and what every person 
objects to most is what is to them old-fashioned — that is, 
what has immediately preceded their own day. 

A detail of family life, but not at all an unimportant 
one in my estimation, is the providing of a large, firm, 
folding table in the general sitting-room. It can be kept 
outside or in a corner of the room, and should never remain 
open during the day, but be brought out nightly when the 
lamps are lit and the curtains are drawn. This plan 
enables every member of the family to have room for 
separate employment. Everyone knows how crowded 
the permanent tables become in an habitually used 
sitting-room. The use of an empty table was first 
suggested to my mind by some remarks made by 
Goethe to Eckermann in the ' Conversations.' He 
strongly recommends bringing out any good books 



288 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

or pictures that you may happen to have to show your 
guests. It is impossible to do this with any comfort 
without a good roomy table on which to spread them. 
Showing books to children of different ages often provides 
an excellent topic for conversation, and even, I might 
say, for instruction ; only this, I am afraid, sounds so 
very priggish. 

A distressing feature of modern civilisation is the 
utter waste, both in town and country, of the precious 
rain-water that runs off our houses. It will be argued 
that in Loudon it would be black ; but it is not very 
difficult to remedy this — sufficiently, at any rate, for 
use in washing. In the country it is priceless. No well- 
cared-for baby ought ever to be washed in anything but 
rain-water ; and yet, rather than make tanks, rich people, 
who will buy every luxury, get their water (which in 
nine cases out of ten is as hard and full of chalk as it 
can be) from the nearest water company. Eain-water is 
even more essential for the plants than for tlie baby. I 
was told last year by a good gardener, who had been 
peculiarly successful in growing the rare and beautiful 
Table Mountain Orchid, Disa grandijlora, that he 
attributed his success entirely to keeping it very moist, 
but never allowing one drop of water to go near it 
that was not rain-water. This is the case, in a minor 
degree, with many other greenhouse and stove plants. 



289 



A DAY IN LONDON 

Advantages of suburbs — London life— Picture exhibitions. 

People who live in London, and those who Hve in the 
depths of the country, are both equally inclined, for differ- 
ent reasons, to laugh a little, and even sneer, over the ob- 
vious disadvantages of suburban residences. By suburban 
I mean more the character of the surroundings than the 
actual distance from London or any other large town. The 
more favoured a place is as regards soil and climate, the 
more thickly populated it becomes. But the near neigh- 
bourhood of London has certainly immense advantages 
under many conditions. For young couples, if a man is 
strong and well, and has work to do in town, it is the very 
poetry of life compared to London itself, and is a phase of 
existence which a woman, if once she has had it, always 
looks back upon with pleasure. She has her children and 
her duties all day, and in the evening the man throws off his 
bothers and worries and comes back to peace and happi- 
ness, rest and pure air at home. When children get big, 
and have tastes and talents of their own which must be 
developed and educated, there is certainly much to be said 
in favour of moving the home for some years to London, 
When the parents are no longer young, and when, however 
friendly they may be and proud of each other, they have 
to pursue individually their own lives, and carry out that 
partnership which is the only perfect form of middle- 
aged married life, for the good of the children and the 

u 



290 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

general well-being of the establishment, then the oneness 
of married life cannot possibly be carried on without a 
certain sacrifice of what is best for the growing-up 
children. But, again, in the evening of life, when friends 
gradually fall away, and we become rather a duty and 
perhaps even a slight burden to our children and 
relations, who have their own lives to attend to, I 
consider that residing in the suburbs solves, once more, 
a great many of the difficulties of our complicated family 
existence. Our children can easily visit us, and, if we 
are not too old, we can so well go to London for duty or 
pleasure, and in this way see, and hear, and learn all that 
is going on. If all this is true, as I think it is, we are 
saved, without actually living in London, from the 
reproach that, being buried in the country, we let our- 
selves go, and grow old prematurely. To be an easy 
distance from town, though saying this may seem rather 
a drop from the sublime to the ridiculous, certainly helps 
us to cultivate the enjoyment of Nature, and, at the 
same time, gives us the opportunity, if we have the 
power in however slight a degree, of acquiring knowledge 
for its own sake without regard to its practical applica- 
tion. Surely these are the only two perfect sources of 
human happiness? I do not say this thoughtlessly. 
Love, in all its forms, gives a far intenser happiness, but 
even in its purest form — parental love — it is accompanied 
by anxiety and doubt. It begins with a kind of animal 
enjoyment, and ends in the practising of continual self- 
denial. 

Much as I dislike leaving my garden, yesterday I 
obeyed the summons of my oldest friend to spend the 
day in London with her ; and certainly it turned out an 
example of what I have been saying — so much so, that 
I yield to the temptation of giving a slight account of it. 
We spent our time in visiting Burlington House, and I 



A DAY IN LONDON 291 

will tell you what struck us most as we wandered 
through the rooms there, in the way we used to do at the 
old Academy in Trafalgar Square, when we were young 
and enthusiastic. First, I took my friend to the work that I 
admired most, which, I believe, will no more die in the gene- 
rations to come than that of either Raphael or Benvenuto 
Cellini has died, though it wiU be more or less admired ac- 
cording to the fashion of the day. Mr. Gilbert, the sculp- 
tor, is in my opinion one of the greatest geniuses we have 
amongst us just now, and his exhibited work in 1896 shows 
with peculiar force the comprehensiveness of his talent. 
Is not the stretch between the massive, splendid portrait- 
bust of Professor Owen, and the exquisitely finished, subtle, 
little full-length figure of St. George, all that the Colossus 
of Rhodes could boast — a foot on either shore ? With the 
assertiveness of the true artist he must have insisted on the 
hiding of the hideous colour on the walls, and hung a piece 
of yellow-brown drapery, which harmonises splendidly 
with his plaster cast. We crossed the room to look at the 
least remarkable work of the three, perhaps, artistically 
speaking ; and yet how the bust of Sir George Grove 
stands out and lives, and almost breathes, compared with 
the cold dead heads that surround it ! It has not the 
colour of life nor the vulgar realism of waxwork, but the 
plain chalk cast is a man of flesh and blood, rugged and 
strong. Then we went back to the St. George, and 
enjoyed it for ten minutes. Perhaps we shall never see 
again its exquisite beauty — the little hands that express 
so much feeling ; the sad, gentle face, almost mourning 
over the worthlessness of human greatness, though the 
dead dragon lies coiled about his feet, and the princess is 
to be his bride ! Look at the cross-handled sword, and 
the helmet, and the armour, and think of all it means, in 
these days of cheap work, to put all that is here into one 
small figure, which is, after all, only a portion of a railing 

tt2 



292 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

round a dead young prince's effigy, to be hidden away 
for ever in a cool, dim chapel. We who studied the 
little statuette are not likely to forget it, for, as a poet 
said of his friend : — 

. . . Some, in whom such images are strong, 
Have hoarded the impression in their heart. 

Fancy's fond dreams and memory's joys among, 

Like some loved relic of romantic song. 
Or cherished masterpiece of ancient art. 

As we passed back into the picture rooms we were 
pleased to see that Lord Leighton's last work apparently 
gains so immensely by being unfinished ; and it is in the 
manner of his youth rather than of his age, rich and 
harmonious in colour, passionate in sentiment — to be 
looked at by those who knew him, this ideal President 
of our Academy of Painting, with ' thoughts which only 
upon tears can rise.' Far the most striking portraits in 
the Academy are, alas ! by non-Englishmen — Mr. Sar- 
gent, who is an American, and M. Benjamin Constant, 
who is a Frenchman. Mr. Sargent's 'Portrait of a 
Lady ' is surely consummate : the painting of the pearls, 
the smart, bright-coloured cape, are not to be beaten by 
Vandyck at his best ; and oh ! how far beyond any effort 
even of the old masters is the sad pathos of that interest- 
ing nineteenth-century face ! Can we look at it and not 
say with Balzac, ' Les drames de la vie ne sont pas dans 
les circonstances, ils sont dans le coeur ' ? It seems 
rather the fashion not to admire Mr. Chamberlain's por- 
trait, and it is not quite so finished, especially the hands, as 
one would wish — doubtless for want of time being given 
for the sittings ; all the same, it is a grand portrait of 
a history-making Late Victorian statesman, and will be 
looked at with reverent curiosity by the student of the 
future. 

And now we pass on through two or three rooms, 



A DAY IN LONDON 293 

avoiding what we do not like when not able to fix our 
eyes on what we do, which is the acquired knack of the 
habitual haunter of galleries and exhibitions, and sit down 
quietly to study Mr. Abbey's most remarkable picture of 
Eichard, Duke of Gloucester, and the Lady Anne. 

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd ? 
Was ever woman in this humour won ? 

And the more we looked, the more we studied, the 
more remarkable the picture appeared to us. The young, 
angry, and yet wicked face under the strange headdress, 
the nervous clasp of the left hand, while the right seizes 
the black veil, true to the instinct of some women, who, 
in the moment of their greatest joy or deepest grief, 
never forget their clothes ! Eichard, with his winning 
courtesy and the bow which conceals the defects of his 
figure, in his red clothes, is a strange contrast to that 
other figure which we know, rather than see, lies stiff and 
cold behind the guards. Historically, perhaps, Eichard 
looks a little old, as he was but thirty-five when killed on 
Bosworth field. The guards, the crowd, the varied ex- 
pressions fading actually away into the canvas, are very 
fine. The painting reminds one of the old Germans, and 
yet is entirely original. Is it not indeed in Art what 
' Esmond ' is in literature — an old story told in an old 
manner, and yet without absolute mimicry of anything ? 

And so the two old friends of forty years wandered on 
and began to get tired, when we met an acquaintance, 
and she said, ' Have you seen the picture that Mr. Watts 
in his generosity says is better painted than anything he 
ever did?' 'No, where is it? What is it?' '"The 
Leper's Wife," by George Harcourt, in the eleventh room.' 
And so on we went with renewed strength into this 
honoured eleventh room, and stood before one of the most 
dramatic and moving of modern pictures A splendid 



294 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

young woman, of five-and-twenty or so, clothed in bright 
red, rushes with her face towards you through a wood, 
with outstretched arms, her face glowing with love and 
devotion, and her lips parted; behind her are great 
banks of cumuli, sanguine-stained from the setting sun, 
and the stems of the trees glow with the same light. 
Pure, small, white wood-flowers grow about her feet. All 
this to represent the joy and the pride of life, which she 
willingly leaves to join her leper husband, who stands in 
the dark shadow of his humble hut, clothed from head to 
foot in grey leper draperies, slightly recalling Mr. Watts's 
own beautiful figure of ' Love and Death ' — the head 
turned away, and the hand upheld forbidding her 
approach, unable to appreciate the love she brings him, 
or loving her too well to allow of any risk for her sake, 
though she cries : ' Kiss me, in the name of the everlasting 
God ! I will live and die with you ! ' The sacrifice 
could bring him no joy ; and so it will ever be, not only 
to the leper — for the love of men is not as the love of 
women. 

It seems impossible anyone should share our ignor- 
ance, so I will merely state that as the two old friends, 
who had led such different lives, stood entranced before 
the picture, we neither of us knew it was the illustration 
of a poem called ' Happy, or The Leper's Bride,' in 
Tennyson's last volume, ' Demeter and Other Poems.' 
He gives in a note an interesting account of the decision 
of the Church, in the twelfth century, that marriage was 
indissoluble, and that the lepers' wives might rejoin their 
husbands if they liked. 

Once more overcome with fatigue, we sat down on 
a bench, to rest before leaving, when a wonderful little 
maiden passed, cleanly but very poorly dressed for these 
days, with beautifully and yet fashionably dressed hair, and 
far-away dreamy eyes. ' That, no doubt, is a young artist 



A DAY IN LONDON 295 

treading the Asphodel meadows of her youth.' My 
friend answered, ' I daresay it is true. Let us tell her of 
the picture we have enjoyed so much ; ' and running after 
her she brought her back, all smiles, saying to me, ' This 
lady is not an artist, as we thought, but the next thing 
to it, a model, enjoying the pictures she has helped to 
make.' Seeing she had no catalogue, we presented her 
with ours, and left her in that undying Elysian world of 
Art, while we slowly went down the steps with the strong 
conviction upon us that age had not yet robbed us of 
the power of spending a happy grey summer morning in 
London. 



296 POT-POURRI PROM A SURREY GARDEN 



HEALTH 

Nurses—' Janet's Eepentanco ' — rrivato hospitals— Sick-nursing — 
Convalescence — Medical books. 

Ouu home-coming this September was an agitating and 
painful one. "We had been warned by telegraph that we 
should find grave sickness in the house, and so indeed it 
was. Doctors, nurses, everything provided before we 
were able to get back. How little can the young of the 
present day understand the complete revolution that has 
come over family life in the last half-century, and how 
changed arc our relations towards the sick, though 
the invalid may be our nearest and dearest ! Thirty years 
ago, even in the houses of the comparatively rich, it was 
exceedingly diflicult to get help in illness ; an old char- 
woman, a coachman's wife, or a servant out of place, was 
considered all that was necessary. Even a partially trained 
nurse was a very rare thing, and never sought for except 
in cases of severe operation or dangerous fevers. It seems 
almost impossible to believe that chloroform was not used 
till the middle of the 'Forties, and that Listen's first great 
operation with the patient unconscious from ether was in 
1848. Now, in spite of the many blessings nurses generally 
bring to the patients, I think the fact that they are usually 
good and very easily obtained is one cause of the deterio- 
ration in home-life clearly perceptible to all of us who 
are of a certain age. Sickness does not now strain every 
nerve, nor biing the same occupation, the same real 



HEALTH 297 

work, mental and physical, that it used to do. The 
feeling of responsibility, of constant anxiety, is taken off 
our shoulders and laid on the nurse. Loving members 
of a family have just to continue their ordinary lives, for 
mere occupation's sake, and to avoid the reproach of 
giving w^ay to useless grief, however anxious they may be. 
Ministering to those we love is too often denied us, and 
the patient's gentle gratitude, which used to tighten for 
life the bonds of affection, either does not now exist, or 
is given to a hard-worked, perhaps overworked, woman 
who does not want it, and who is here to-day and gone 
to-morrow. Her services, however excellent and efficient, 
are given for money, and are and ought to be perfectly 
different from the tender and devoted services prompted 
by love. All sensible doctors recognise this. 

George Eliot, whose large-minded philosophy did so 
much to form the youth of my generation, is not, I am told, 
much read — or, at any rate, not much appreciated — now 
by the young. There is a splendid passage in ' Janet's 
Eepentance ' which brings home to us the lesson of the 
sick-room as no words of mine could do. This lesson 
is sadly missed under the modern condition of things, 
and the want of it has perhaps caused that rebellion 
against sorrow and sickness which we so often see now- 
adays. It is a lesson which those who learnt it young 
never forget, for it colours the whole of their lives : — 

' Day after day, with only short intervals of rest, Janet 
kept her place in that sad chamber. No wonder the 
sick-room and the lazaretto have so often been a refuge 
from the tossings of intellectual doubt — a place of repose 
for the worn and wounded spirit. Here is a duty about 
which all creeds and all philosophers are at one ; here, at 
least, the conscience will not be dogged by doubt, the 
benign impulse will not be checked by adverse theory ; 
here you may begin to act without settling one preliminary 



298 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

question. To moisten the sufferer's parched lips through 
the long night-watches, to bear up the drooping head, 
to lift the helpless limbs, to divine the want that can 
find no utterance beyond the feeble motion of the hand, 
the beseeching glance of the eye — these are offices that 
demand no self-questioning, no casuistry, no assent to 
propositions, no weighing of consequences. Within the 
four walls where the stir and glare of the woiid are shut 
out, and every voice is subdued — where a human being 
lies prostrate, thrown on the tender mercies of his fellow 
— the moral relation of man to man is reduced to its 
utmost clearness and simplicity ; bigotry cannot confuse it, 
theory cannot pervert it, passion awed into quiescence 
can neither pollute nor perturb it. As we bend over the 
sick-bed, all the forces of our nature rush towards the 
channels of pity, of patience, and of love, and sweep down 
the miserable choking drift of our quarrels, our debates, 
our would-be wisdom, and our clamorous, selfish desires.' 
If this picture is true, and every word of it comes home 
to me as a truth, then surely life as it is now is in some 
respects a poorer, weaker thing in consequence of the 
modern idea which, under the power of the medical pro- 
fession, sends our husbands to a private hospital for an 
operation, and hands over our sick in our own homes, let us 
say to the very best of women, but to women who never saw 
them before, and who, we hope, will never see them again. 
These excellent women, though paid by you, are virtually 
the servants of the doctor, to do his bidding, and even, 
if necessary, to cover and veil his mistakes or screen his 
faults. The professional )-eputation of the nurse is not 
in any way affected by the life or death of her patient ; so 
long as she does her duty, death is an incident in the course 
of business. But her very livelihood depends on her saying 
that the operation was well performed, and on pleasing 
the doctor who attends after the operation is over. I do 



HEALTH 299 

not say this as a reproach to anyone, or even as a con- 
demnation of a system which, if logically carried out, as 
fortunately it seldom is, comes very near to being the 
greatest of modern tyrannies. My reason for noticing it 
is that, though under these conditions the responsibility 
of the mother or wiie becomes different and much less 
simple, it is by no means entirely over, as many young 
people seem to me to imagine. We none of us wish for 
one moment to return to the nurses of the type described 
by Dickens, but I do think we ought all of us, in our homes 
and mth any influence we may have on our generation, to 
guard against throwing ourselves entirely into the hands 
of the doctors and nurses, with an absolute submission of 
our intelligence — a submission which we should think 
ridiculous and impossible in any of the other conditions 
of life. It is bad for them and bad for us. Such power 
is too much. Such a neglect of our duties and such 
complete dependence on others may have most disastrous 
consequences on ourselves, and, still worse, may seriously 
injure the lives of those we love. Nothing matters so 
much, be it old style or new, as that sickness in the house, 
end it ever so favourably, should hurt or lessen family 
love ; for, as Thackeray says in one of his letters, ' Atmons 
nous bien. It seems to me that is the only thing we can 
carry away, and when we go let us have some who love 
us wherever we are.' 

Nurses have a very hard life, and almost all women 
who work are apt to belong to the overworked portion of 
the community. That they should combine in any way 
that is possible, for their own advantage and for the 
maintenance of their old age, is very much to be desired. 
But the public should never for one moment forget that 
nursing, which began in devotion and forgetfulness of self, 
as a vocation, has now become, in the most acknowledged 
sense of the word, a profession and an employment for 



300 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

women, depriving them of the leisure and pleasure 
belonging to their youth — that leisure and pleasure 
which justified Scott's description of woman as ' un- 
certain, coy, and hard to please,' and the want of which 
certainly also takes from them the right to consider 
themselves, or even the power to be, 'ministering angels.' 
What is done for duty and money can never be the same 
offering as what is done for love and devotion. The 
public only are to blame if they think a strong young 
woman ceases to be a human being because she works 
hard and wears a nurse's dress. It is of distinct im- 
portance that in the case of choosing a nurse for a 
husband, brother, or son, a woman should feel the 
responsibility of the situation, and not take the first nurse 
that turns up at an institution. The selecting of a nurse 
should most certainly not be left to chance. The nurse 
should be suitable for the case from the point of view of 
the family as well as that of the doctor. Why should we 
expose two human beings under our charge to temptations 
which we should not sanction under any of the other 
circumstances of life ? Convalescence ought to be a time 
of rest both for mind and body, not a time that is need- 
lessly prolonged for the sake of foolish and unworthy 
flirtation, which is no more sanctioned by the higher 
members of the profession than is flirtation between 
a doctor and his patient. The accusations that just 
lately have been showered on the nurses, they deserve, 
it seems to me, no more than any other class of 
young women who share our common human nature. 
The blame rests with those who select the nurse — first 
the matron of the hospital or institution, and then the 
person who chooses her for the individual case. 

The commonest of our national faults, and one which 
affects all our health regulations, is surely that we 
sanction the obvious causes of a situation, and then are 



HEALTH 301 

surprised and grumble at their inevitable consequences. 
It is not so much a question of morality as of mere 
worldly common-sense and expediency. The laws which 
should regulate such a new departure are not yet formed — 
nursing, according to our modern ideas, being scarcely a 
quarter of a century old. As long as the world lasts and 
women are women, give them certain circumstances and 
a sufficient temptation, and nothing will keep them 
straight. Some women, too, take to nursing because 
early trouble has made other openings difficult for them. 
Under those circumstances we meet the most dangerous 
type of woman that exists ; the world has turned against 
her, and thereby caused her to become hard and bad, and 
the enemy of society — the type that crushes, by all 
the means in her power, any other woman who con- 
sciously or unconsciously crosses the path of her conquest. 
Few people seem to consider that the training of a nurse 
is more hardening, and more likely to unsex a woman, 
than the training of an actress. At any rate, it is im- 
possible to go through it vnthout becoming very much 
better or very much worse than the ordinary woman. In 
France tney understand human nature better than we 
do, and would never dream of allowing our system of 
nursing. Nurses in Paris are, I believe, most difficult to 
get. We want more regulations and more judicious 
assistance from public opinion. The French want an 
increased staff of nurses who are well conducted and not 
too young, to supplement the devoted, high-minded, deeply 
religious class of women who can alone join the Sister- 
hoods, as they apparently are insufficient in number. 
Time, the greatest adjuster of all human difficulties, will 
settle these matters. What concerns us is that no turn 
of fortune's wheel should crush and injure ourselves or 
those belonging to us ; and what matters now is that 
ordinary knowledge and common-sense on the subject of 



302 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

health should be brought to bear by every woman 
responsible in any way for the well-being of others, and 
especially of the young. Public opinion, I am glad to 
say, does not forgive a mother's neglect of her children's 
physical condition ; and the condemnation is severe when 
a boy, after all his work and passing his hard examina- 
tions, is plucked in the medical examination for some 
slight physical defect — it may be nothing worse than 
neglected corns or a crooked toe — which with ordinary 
care in childhood or a slight operation might have been 
entirely cured. Is it stinginess, or is it idleness, or is it 
ignorance, or is it mere selfishness and a dislike to 
acknowledge delicacy in their own children, or a half- 
conscientious repudiation of responsibility and a blind 
trust in Providence, that makes so many parents allow 
life-long misery and suffering to come upon their children 
just for the want of a little care and study of the 
ordinary rules of health, and of the watchful eye which is 
given by every hunting man to his horse ? 

One word more I must add about convalescence. 
With the young and the healthy it is a time of hope and 
even happiness, in spite of mourning over the lost muscles 
and strength, and the irritating tyrannies of the sick- 
room. But in long, chronic, hopeless illness modern 
nursing, with all its real advantages, becomes an active 
daily trial, only to be borne patiently from the same 
feeling that makes all work and all trials bearable — 
namely, for the time being, doing the disagreeable for the 
sake of the ultimate good. It is our only method of 
earning our daily bread by the sweat of our brow, the old 
golden rule of life, which in all the forms it takes is still 
the one that convinces us that life is worth living, if not 
for ourselves, at any rate to continue our presence here for 
the sake of those who dearly wish to keep us. And so 
all the trials and fatigues of the three hours' nurse's rule 



HEALTH 



3^3 



in the sick-room in the morning have to be gone through 
as patiently and cheerfully as is possible. But he or she 
can afterwards sink exhausted on the sofa or bed, and 
can indeed say with the pride that belongs to each one of 
us in our tiny sphere, ' I, too, have not been idle — I, too, 
have done my best for those who are dear to me.' But 
it is weary work, and for the very weak they can only 
feel how very much happier it would be to be left alone 
and lie still and unbothered, instead of feeling more tired 
than after a hard day's hunting. 

For those who wish to learn, or those who are going 
abroad or to live in out-of-the-way places, and for those 
who do not care to have a doctor always in their 
house, I will name a few books written for the public by 
medical men and women of distinction and of great 
experience, and who are in no sense of the word quacks. 
The great difference, so far as I can see, between the 
books of medical men and those of so-called quacks, is 
that the latter have absolute faith in their remedies, and 
use almost the identical old miraculous words, ' Wash 
and be clean ' — and this really often answers— while the 
books written by doctors employ a much more cautious 
language. To an immense number of human beings the 
narrow and foi'cible phraseology has great attractions, and 
goes a long way in affecting the nerves and mind, which 
are undoubted and powerful factors in all cures. Where 
disease is advanced and real, is it not admitted by all 
systems that alleviation, not cure, is all that is possible ? 
The simulation of disease is often merely the result of 
shattered or over-stimulated nerves. I fancy the medical 
books come near the truth when they suggest that an 
immense number of remedies and different treatments 
may all do good under different circumstances. In my 
opinion the cause of a vast amount of the bad health of 
the present day is owing to the number of drugs that 



304 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

people take — partly, at first, by order of the doctor and 
continued afterwards, and still more from the taking of 
quack medicines. When a doctor comes to the house, he 
should be given every chance, and obeyed in all he says ; 
but when he is dismissed, his medicines should go with him, 
and all amateur doctoring should be of the simplest kind — 
abstinence first and foremost, and various applications of 
hot and cold water. One of our great physicians two or 
three years ago, in his opening address to his hospital pupils, 
said that seventy per cent, of the patients in a great London 
hospital (think what that means !) would not be there if 
they were teetotalers and vegetarians ; and this statement 
passed unnoticed in all the daily papers in which the 
address was reported. If doctors could convince their 
patients of this, I fear their profession would be a less 
lucrative one, and that the health of the community would 
be far better — at any rate, fewer of the leisured moneyed 
classes would have to go to German watering-places, 
homoeopathists, and quacks. 

It is quite a latter-day thing for doctors to talk in this 
way about abstinence in health, but I shall never forget 
what I owe to an old-fashioned country doctor, who told 
me, whenever my children were ailing, to knock off at 
once all animal food — meat, soup, and even milk. Later 
in my life, I remember it was a favourite saying of Sir 
William Gull's : ' First get your patient hungry, and then 
keep him so.' 

The first book I recommend is called ' On Slight 
Ailments and on Treating Disease,' by Lionel Beale. 
This is a collection of lectures delivered at King's College, 
London, on the principles and practice of medicine. If 
the book has a fault, it is that it is too comprehensive and 
medical to suit the palate of the ordinary amateur. The 
next contains the wisdom of the serpent and the sim- 



HEALTH 305 

plicity of the dove, and has the attractive title of ' A Plea 
for a Simpler Life,' by George S. Keith, a well-known 
Edinburgh doctor. This little book is short, clear, and 
wise. 

' Food and Feeding,' by Sir Henry Thompson. This 
is a much-to-be-commended and really instructive book. 
It goes into first principles, both of health and of the 
chemical properties of food, and would be far more useful 
to take to wild places or distant lands than any ordinary 
cookery book. The commonplace of living is taken up 
and handled for our benefit by a man of great talent and 
learning. Everybody who has not got it, ought to buy it 
— and study it, too. 

The next is what, I suppose, would be called a quack- 
book, and its name is ' Power through Eepose,' by Annie 
Payson Call. It is an admirable, healthy, and useful 
little book, particularly suited to the straining, and striving, 
and overworking of the age. It will be found most helpful 
to the sleepless and the nervous, if they will study it and 
give attention to its directions. 

Last, but by no means least in its great utihty, comes 
' A Handbook of Nursing for the Home and the Hos- 
p'tal,' by Catherine Jane Wood. Miss Wood was for 
years lady-superintendent of the Great Ormond Street 
Hospital for Children, so she speaks with great authority. 
Though it has reached the eleventh edition, it is astonish- 
ing how many people have never heard of this first-rate 
little handbook. It is condensed and yet detailed, it 
is medical and yet simple and intelligible to a degree 
which brings it within the comprehension of anyone. In 
fact, I beheve it to be the best book on nursing ever 
written. 

This Uttle poem of Mr. Lionel Tennyson's has, I 
beheve, never been published ; a friend gave it to me 

X 



3o6 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

some years tigo. I think it will appeal to many people as 
it does to me : — 

SYMPATHY 

In this sad world, wlioro mortals must 

Be almost strangers, 
Hhould we not turn to those we trust 

To save us from our dangers ? 
Then whisper in my ear again, 

And this believe — 
That au{j;ht which gives thy dear heart pain 

Makes my heart grieve. 

God wills that wo have sorrow here, 

And wo will share it ; 
Whisper thy sorrow in my ear, 

That I may also bear it. 
If anywhere our trouble seems 

To find an end, 
'Tis in the fairyland of dreams 

Or with a friend. 



AMATEUR ARTISTS 

Amateurs — Want of occupation— Work amongst the poor— Music 
and drawing — Buskin's teaching Technical skill— Natural and 
acquired talent —Leaving home Water-colours versus oils. 

Drawing and gardening are so intimately connected, and 
being able to draw is such a preparation to the study of 
gardening, that I have thought it worth while to bring in 
here part of an article I wrote last year (1896) in the 
' National Eeview.' In it I tried to set down some 
observations on the subject of amateur art, having myself 
had a life-long experience of it, of its great joys and its 
many heart-burning disappointments and difficulties. 
The increased taste for art and many other causes have 
tended during the last twenty years to diminish the 
number of those who draw for pleasure alone ; whereas 
public opinion and family pride, which once thought 
starvation and beggary more honourable than work, now 
no longer prevent our sons and daughters from earning 
their bread as professional artists, musicians, or actors. 
But it is not to these that I wish to allude. They have 
found their vocation ; their course is clear. I am speaking 
of the amateur proper, common enough a generation ago. 
Nine-tenths of the amateurs are women, and it is upon 
amateur art as an occupation for women that I wish to 
insist. I am more and more convinced of the importance 
to a girl of having an interest in life over and above her 
affections and the trifling domesti duties that may come 



3o8 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

in her way. If not, the time will come when, either as a 
young married woman whose husband's duties keep him 
absent during most of the day, or as one whom accident 
or choice has withheld from marriage, she will feel that 
discBUvrement which drives so many women into frivolity 
and folly, and sinks many more into ill-health and fretful 
misery. 

Tennyson bade Lady Clara Vere de Vere employ, in 
v^hat is now called philanthropy, the hours which might 
drag wearily with her if she desisted fi-om playing with 
hearts. He recognised the fact that women who — through 
no fault of their own, be it remembered — are born to no 
very distinct duties, must have some occupation to fill 
their minds and lives, or they will infallibly take to some 
form of mischief. No doubt it is a gain that so much 
should now be almost universally acknowledged. The 
question of finding wise and fruitful work for the many 
women, married or single, who have time and heart and 
brain insufficiently occupied, still remains, whether we 
like it or not, one of the burning questions of the day. 
But the experience of the last twenty years has shown — I 
think, beyond dispute — that the late Laureate's solution of 
the difficulty is not a satisfactory one. Far be it from me 
to cast discredit on the noble work which has been done, 
and is still being done, among the poor of London and 
other great cities ; but in the opinion of all who have 
thought on the subject, and, still more, of those who have 
liad practical experience of it, there is no channel from 
which the activity of amateurs should be more carefully 
diverted. The long apprenticeship, the severe application, 
the entire self-devotion, to the exclusion of other occupa- 
tions, which distinguish the professional from the amateur, 
should be required before people are allowed to deal 
v^ith burning social questions, to tamper with the lives 
of others, to risk pauperising individuals by indis- 



AMATEUR ARTISTS 309 

criminate charity, or, as is continually the case with 
visiting in hospitals, to stir up unintentionally class 
hatred by injudicious interference. It is a growing opinion 
that almost all such work requires, not zeal and intel- 
ligence alone, but the whole time and individual energies 
of those who devote themselves to it. Not all who can 
give these are endowed by Nature and education with the 
qualities which render them capable of being useful in 
that line. 

Five-and-twenty or thirty years ago, serious education 
for women of the leisured class was hardly thought of. 
The teaching of domestic economy, as well as all real 
mental training, was neglected in favour of superficial 
accomplishments. It was then far more common to meet 
with the young lady whose aesthetic impulses found vent 
in flower-painting and landscape art than it is in the 
present day. Mr. Ruskin's teaching, the constant read- 
ing of art criticism — above all, the more thorough ground- 
ing now insisted upon in every branch of education — has 
opened girls' minds and increased their diffidence. They 
have a far more widespread and intelligent interest in art, 
but the actual number of amateur workers has greatly 
diminished. These influences, by educating the taste 
and increasing the knowledge of a large section of the 
public, have combined to deter those who in former days 
would have been only too ready to dabble in water- 
colours. They are now withheld by an exaggerated 
sense of the difficulties of the undertaking, or by a 
consciousness that they lack time or opportunity to learn 
to any purpose. Unfortunately this diffidence principally 
affects the more sensitive and poetical of the young 
people. For the sake of these, and just because en- 
couragement is needed, I wish to point some of the 
reasons why their courage should not fail. It seems to 
me that there is much profit and enjoyment to be derived 



310 PO'i-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

from an occupation which brings into the home none of 
the irritation so often produced by the piano or violin. 
Music, no doubt, not merely in cases of real talent, but also 
when only ordinary proficiency is attained, is the most 
sociable of hobbies. It brings other musical people to 
the house, and gives far more pleasure to those among 
non-performers who like it, if more annoyance to those 
who do not, than drawing. Many natures, however, 
have the temperament of genius without its creative 
power, and I doubt very much whether music gives the 
same vent and the same satisfaction to these which even 
a slight taste for drawing affords when cultivated. There 
is a rare delight in the exercise of creative power, however 
limited ; and this pleasure is given by drawing, even at its 
most elementary stage. "What was a piece of white 
paper has something on it, and you have put it there. It 
has also the great advantage that it can be practised at all 
times and in all places — when travelling, at the dull sea- 
side lodging, in town, or at the empty or sad backwater 
times of life that everyone experiences. Its danger to 
each individual is the same as that of all other pleasures 
and occupations to which we give our hearts, it en- 
courages selfish absorption. But everything has its 
reverse side ; and I am sure that, to the person with no 
ear for music and no taste for independent study in 
science or literature, drawing may prove a lasting delight, 
a source of peace and content, a stimulus to moral and 
intellectual growth. The occupation, to those who have 
learnt to love it, causes time to fly on the wings of 
pleasure ; it adds new interest and zest to life, opening 
the eyes to a whole world of beauty which has hitherto 
lain unknown or unnoticed. Balzac said : ' The genius 
of observation is almost the whole of human genius.' If 
this aphorism is not comprehensively true, it serves at 
least to prove how life is enriched even for stupid by 



AMATEUR ARTISTS 311 

cultivating observation ; and yet hov^r many go through 
life without it ! As one branch of ' the genius of observa- 
tion,' the artistic pursuit educates the taste in the highest 
sense of that /much-abused word. It increases immensely 
the appreciation of works of art, both ancient and 
modern. It often leads to a reasoned study of the 
history of art, its interesting evolution, and its bio- 
graphical and critical literature. Besides these, to come 
to more homely matters and the most feminine side of 
a woman's life — namely, the management of her dress and 
the decoration of her house — the knowledge of colour and 
the study of form will make both these more beautiful 
and less commonplace. They will also give her assurance 
to free herself from the often tasteless tyrannies of the 
dressmaker and the upholsterer. 

Granting the wish, how is an ambitious girl to set 
about learning to draw ? She may do a great deal by 
herself ; but in the initial stage, help is very desirable — not 
in childhood, but after seventeen. Much waste of time 
and energy is prevented by a few timely lessons, even 
though solitary effort with the aid of books, especially 
such a book as Euskin's ' Elements of Drawing,' might 
in the end conquer the difficulties. The old accusation 
against amateur work, of showiness and superficiality, was 
certainly well deserved in the days when the one idea 
was to send for a fashionable drawing-master, who taught 
his pupils to make feeble copies of his own drawings — 
which copies he most unfairly touched up, to make the 
results more satisfactory to parents or guardians. Of 
course, this system was deplorable ; but those evils have 
disappeared, to give place to their exact contraries in 
modern art teaching. The dryness of the grounding, the 
difficulties of getting through the earlier stages of an art 
school, often discourage the student who cannot give up 
all her time and energies to conquering these initial 



312 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

difficulties, which are made so great. The modern girl 
who works in a studio now spends months, even years, 
drawing rough charcoal studies of the nude. This, of 
course, is essential for a genius who is seriously going in 
for figure-painting. But to the ordinary amateur it brings 
about the desired results no more than the knowledge of 
the alphabet would give the mental development to be 
derived from literature. The upshot of all this serious 
study is that, as the girl's life gets fuller, her drawing can 
no longer be the accompaniment to her life, and she gives 
it up in despair. 

It may be thought well that these half-hearted workers 
should be turned back at the outset. This would be right, 
if the drawing of amateurs were to be measured only by 
its results. But the least of its many advantages to them 
is the production of a mere drawing, especially as this is 
always so inferior to what they hoped to produce. The 
really important ends in view ai'e the influence on 
character, the employment of time, and the attainment 
of innocent happiness, which are all of much greater 
importance than mere technical skill, I do not deny the 
usefulness of schools, nor the impetus they may have 
given to our national art. But their system has its 
faults, even as regards the training of professionals or of 
those amateurs whose great talent may carry them quickly 
through the drudgery these schools impose. It seems to 
me that there is room now for well-qualified teachers of 
water-colour sketching, without any revival of the old- 
fashioned and very superficial system of years gone by. 
A teacher should himself have been grounded in freehand, 
design, and perspective. He should be able to guide the 
pupil through these early stages into the happier plains 
of still-life or landscape painting from Nature more 
quickly and with less tedium than could be done in the 
school or the studio. I know that with patient work a 



AMATEUR ARTISTS 313 

girl may do all this alone. I do not want anything to be 
expected of the instruction I recommend beyond the 
smoothing of the path. It will avail nothing unless it 
teaches her to depend in the long run on herself, her own 
industry, and her own exertions. A certain amount of 
technical skill in the use of pencil and colours, certain 
rules of composition, the knowledge of how to stretch 
paper, prepare materials, and set about a drawing, may 
be imparted by a teacher. This saves all the time and 
vexation it would cost to learn these things alone. But 
though we may learn from another to some extent how 
to think, no one in the world can tell us what to think. 
The faculty and the will must be supplied by the learner. 
No teacher can instil them, though he may remove 
obstacles and help to quicken the growth of the powers 
within. Unless a girl have it in her to feel, in however 
small a degree, the beauty of the light summer cirrus 
which floats above her head, or to know how to look with 
joy into the glowing heart of a flower, no books and no 
teaching will ever give it to her. Without an inborn love 
of natural beauty, no one will ever care enough about 
drawing to persevere ; with it, no one can fail to make 
progress, however slight. Beginners should, I think, 
never destroy their drawings ; they should be kept, not 
in conceit, but as a proof of progress. Every di'awing, 
however, should be made with a definite purpose, and it 
is best — as a rule— for each one to draw what she most 
fancies ; the result will then probably not only be more 
satisfactory, but more original. But to begin sketch after 
sketch and study after study, and then give them up or 
throw them away half finished, is a form of self- 
indulgence most fatal to progress. It debilitates the 
intelligence and weakens the moral fibre, which alone 
conquers difficulties. 

On the other hand, it is not uncommon for un- 



314 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

fortunately conscientious persons to fall into the contrary- 
error. They may perseveringly linger over unattractive 
studies, merely because they offer certain difficulties, on 
the ascetic principle of hair shirts and peas in our shoes. 
To these I would say : ' If you were pursuing a country 
path and turned back at the first stile, instead of climbing 
over it, you would never reach your destination. If, on 
the other hand, you decided that because climbing a stile 
is a disagreeable and tedious process, therefore it must 
be good for us, and you promptly climbed back again, 
you would delay your progress to no purpose. There 
is a distinction between overcoming obstacles which 
obstruct our onward and upward path, and idly 
creating difficulties for the fancied glory of conquering 
them.' 

Progress depends on a general brain power, and is not 
so surely proportioned to effort as the sanguine and the 
clever are apt to believe. It is unfortunately quite 
possible for amateurs to spend a great deal of time over 
their drawings, to take a real interest in the pursuit, and 
yet to achieve but small, very small, results. Such 
failure is sometimes due to circumstances and to pre- 
ventable causes. The most common of them is the 
constant interruption to which all home work, and 
especially women's work, is hable. The curious selfish- 
ness in this matter of even the best of mothers often 
immensely surprises me. It is hard indeed to convince 
parents and relations that women have any right to the 
undisturbed use of any portion of their time. I think a 
great deal of that desire, so commonly displayed now, for 
girls to leave their homes and undertake some work, has 
been brought about by this want of realisation of the 
necessity of quiet, if work is to be done. These inter- 
ruptions, so often quite needless, not only cause an 
immense loss of time, but are actually a great hindrance 



AMATEUR ARTISTS 315, 

to improvement in art. It is always difficult, often 
almost impossible, to take up work again in the same 
spirit in which it was laid down. The threads are broken, 
and cannot be joined together again, to say nothing of 
the intense annoyance of finding the subject moved, the 
colour-box upset, or the water spilt. The power of 
working, in spite of such drawbacks, can be cultivated, 
especially if it is possible to set up a table either in the 
pupil's own bed-room, or if some disused room can be 
handed over to her, where no one touches her things but 
herself. 

As a compromise to the undesirableness of leaving 
home altogether, these difficulties may very well be met, 
if one or two amateurs club together and hire a suitable 
room elsewhere outside their own homes. It might also 
be possible to get the loan of a room in the house of a 
young married woman who is the mistress of her own 
time, where all materials remain undisturbed, and where 
the surroundings are not annoying or distracting. Un- 
papered walls, simply whitewashed, a plain deal table or 
two, a few pieces of cheap pottery, are to be procured 
at the cost of a very few shillings, a bunch of leaves 
or a handful of Poppies or Marigolds giving the touch of 
colour which is dear to the soul of the most incipient 
artist. Besides the advantage to the work of quiet and 
seclusion, it is to many women both a rest and a stimulus 
to go out to their work daily, as men do. 

Another point which I would beg may be remembered 
is that water-colours are far more suitable to amateurs than 
oils. The use of oils encourages all those defects of 
slovenliness and carelessness, speed and showy display, 
to which amateurs are liable. A bad sketch or study in 
oils is far more distressing than a bad sketch in water- 
colours. The materials of water-colours are more 
manageable and convenient for those who have neither 



3i6 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

much space nor much time at their command — that is to 
say, for the majority of amateurs. Moreover, water-colour 
painting is our national art, and it perhaps can never be 
fully understood or appreciated save by those who have 
some experience of its great technical difficulties. 



3^7 



DAUGHTEBS 

School-girls— Ignorance of parents — The confidence of children must 
be gained — The way to do it — Drawbacks of nurseries and school- 
rooms — Over -education — Show - training — Delicate girls — A 
woman's vocation — Superficial teaching — Children's tempers — 
Modern girls — Herbert Spencer and education — J. P. Kichter — 
Liberty and independence — Serious studies — What young girls 
should read — Parents and children — Friendships — Girls' allow- 
ances — Dress — Professions — Strong feelings — Management of 
house and family — Early rising — Life in society. 

Much that I have said with regard to boys applies to 
girls too, but I would only recommend sending girls to 
school in very peculiar and exceptional circumstances. I 
used to think that, for town girls, the high -schools afforded 
the best method of education. I now think that the pupils 
there are worked much too hard. "What is really wanted 
for women is a mental training, the creation of a habit 
of mind, rather than technical knowledge of any kind. 
Eemember, such experience as I have of girls is entirely 
limited to the leisured classes — those who, by an unwritten 
law, are virtually brought up to amuse themselves first, 
and to marry afterwards. I know nothing of the wants 
and requirements of those girls who are aware, from the 
beginning, that they will actually have to earn their 
bread and decide on a walk in life, as a boy does. One 
merit of school is that if the father and mother have 
neglected the health of their children, as is too frequently 
the case, from idleness, ignorance, or prejudice, abnormal 



3i8 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

bad health is probably revealed by the school-life ; and if 
a boy cannot do as others do, some one has to discover 
the reason v^hy. Hundreds of mothers will own how 
much healthier, for some cause or another, their boys are 
at school than they were at home. This limelight of 
criticism — which, I think, is thrown on the facts of the 
case at school — is, alas ! never turned upon the unfortu- 
nate schooh'oom girl. She is inclined to think that others 
suffer as much as she does ; or, at any rate, she would far 
rather endure almost anything in silence than make com- 
plaints which often cause the mother and the governess to 
accuse her of being fanciful, idle, or self-indulgent. It is 
a problem, never solved through a woman's life, when it 
is best to disregard her ailments or to attend to them. 

One of the most startling things I know is the 
ignorance of parents as to what is going on in the lives 
and minds of their children. I am thankful to say that 
in all my long experience I have only known one or two 
really bad, indifferent, selfish mothers ; but even the 
kindest mothers, and those who devote most time and 
thought to the welfare of their children, are sometimes 
quite blind to the discomforts, the sorrows, and even the 
tragedies that are being endured in silence under their 
very eyes. I refer rather to the childhood of girls than 
of boys, for these last are almost always sent to school 
when quite young, and from that moment their indepen- 
dence and consequent outspokenness when at home are 
generally assured. But numbers of women have 
mentioned to me the troubles of their childhood, which 
never were suspected by their mothers, and which they 
themselves never dreamt of revealing till they were quite 
growm up, sometimes not till they were married and out 
of the home altogether. Every young mother says and 
thinks, ' This sort of thing shall never happen with my 
children ; ' but it does happen, again and again. The cause 



DAUGHTERS 319 

lies, not in the want of kindness, but in a want of 
intelligence — the intelligence to put one's self on the 
level of a child and to see its life from its point of view. 
This faculty is so rarely displayed that it is safe to con- 
clude it rarely exists. It is a gift of no mean order, for, 
however generous our intentions may be, it is an exceed- 
ingly difficult task to deal out justice. I do not deny that 
there is a tendency in most people to exaggerate the 
troubles of their childhood, which must be taken into 
account ; but how many a mother thinks that her darlings 
are all right, and so bright and happy, with every reason 
to be so, when, in fact, they are eating their little hearts 
out in misery and sorrow ! The capability for suffering 
in some children is quite extraordinary, and trivial 
things assume colossal proportions in their small lives. 

When girls are brought up under teachers and 
governesses, as is generally the case in the houses of the 
wealthy, the difficulty is increased. To complain of these 
authorities to the still higher but more distant authority of 
a parent is a very doubtful means of redress, and, in case 
of failure, the risk of punishment or of an aggravation of 
the evil — real or imagined — which gave rise to the com- 
plaint, is too terrible to be faced. Almost all girls, under 
such circumstances, are afraid to speak the truth. In my 
own case I was not afraid of my mother, but this made 
the keeping of governesses very difficult. I had eight of 
them before I was fifteen, and I disliked all but one. I 
expect, though doubtless I was a ' horrid child,' that, as 
regards the governesses, I was pretty clear- judging. Of 
course, the governesses of to-day have a very different 
idea of their duties from what was usual fifty years ago. 
Special training is given to those who undertake to teach 
the young, and this is now recognised as an art in itself, 
independently of having knowledge and information to 
impart. Such a change has greatly helped to raise 



^20 I'Or rOUKKI I'ROM A SUKKIOY CAR DION 

tlio v()c.)i.l,i()ii of H govorncsH lo a far inoto coiiipotoiit 
HtaiidiU'd. 

ITow to }^fii,in Mi(i (!oiirKl(mco of childron that \h tho 
otoinal piolildiM. BioiMlIy H|)((akin{^, \ holiovo no oiio 
over hol|)H human iiatiico, oxoiipt hy aHHiiiniiii; it to ho 
higher anil nohlor than it \h. It \h hiKnihating to ho 
(loooivwl, hut it in l)ottc.r to h(! ho a thouHand timoH than 
oiKM) to un(l(irrato a f^ood (|iiii,hty or ii, j^'ood InipidHO, or 
to givo up hopd and trust. It in diHicidt to H(io and to ho 
with oin' c.hildrdn (tnouj^h, and iJic, dill'iculty in not Holvcid 
(ivon hy thn inotlu^r tcacJiin;^ tho iihildron thoir Iohhoiih 
horwolf. Anyhody, I am inolinod to hoiiovo, dooH thin 
hottor' than nho can. No inorning ooou|)ii,tion or aftor- 
iioon c.laHH tngothor do(tH away witli tho nouoHHity for 
dovoting to tho ohihh'on tho all-important intoivn.! hotwoon 
livo o'clock and hod-time^ which it is hard for Homo 
niothorH to givo to thotn. In my o|)inion a wiwo 
mother hIiouIiI give up her fiionds rathcir than \n)r child- 
ren at that houi'. If the, father can he at home tluMi, 
too, HO nnu'.h the Ixitter. At that tinui children are a 
little tired and want amuHiiif^. I think this is Uir hotter 
done hy tidkiiij^ to them, and l)y playinj^ tho pijuio and 
singing to them, or hy tiuudnng them how to play hy 
thomsolvoH som(>. kind of H(uni-activo game, than hy 
ol)liging them to employ theinHolveHqiiiotly, or hy reading 
lio |,h(un. If tlu^y attend and listen, it is too tiring for 
them ; and if they do not, it is a thorough waste of time. 
A gi'eat many children, if encouraged to npeak openly, 
will tell you that thoy do not care ahout hoing road to, 
unless it is Home child's story which they ahnost know 
hy heart, and which is rea,d tt) them over luul over a.gain, 
as tho nurHos do. Of couise, I jun now oidy speaking of 
<;hildreii under eleven oi' twelve yeius old. 

A griMit drjiAvhack, not t)nly to the childi'en hut to tli(^ 
parentH, in what is called upper class lifi^, is that the. 



DAUCiri l',KS 3ai 

fllltloS of Uiii,l, lifo t\i)(;imu\,uX(i l,[i() roniii|Miln(/ «)f l,fi(iir 
cliildrcii for n, i/roid \)i\,vi, of Uin <lii,y l/O Uim cii.ro of (iUioni. 
If Uinm wcro no muHorioH iLtid no ncliorilroonnt, Uuito 
would ho no noconHiliy for ii, ' cliildron'ii liour ' ii,l) all, for 
ilic, f.liildrc.n vvoiil<J Hhii,n) lifo wiLli Mxiit inoUicr frrjMi Lho 
liriil., and iiIid would dorivo hor ploaiincn fnxri l/iijiin^ (Ui,m 
of Uioui. A Hcrioiiii di('(i(;ull,y for Uu) itioUicr in Unil, hImj 
liii,!i t,o (■,'»! ripcLc wilJi Uio dovoLion ii,nd c-onul/anl, ii,(,l,()ntion 
of Uic niniKiU luid (^ivornnHMod. 11/ in iliiit wliifili ofUui 
i'\v<:!{ cliildn'ti Uhi idnji, Uiii,l, il, i;i ofdy wli<;n wilJi f/hcir 
irioUii;r UinJi Uioy ;iro dull, no^locl/od, a/id oxpuclod t,o 
oo(;iil»y iiiid ii.Hiiino Uioiniiclvfiii ; and l/liiu in (;(irl,!i,iidy an 
Undonirahlc iniprcnnion l,o prodiw.c, ;i,l/ ;i,ii ii,»/() whon iin- 
pRiHHioriH lire, iil-ron^; and likely to Ijo IilhIjoja i'lvcry cano 
rniiHl; l)o jii<h';'''l individuiiJIy, and a woniii,n nmiil/ piil/ l,o 
htjniolf liow fii,r il^ iit n<;c,<'.iiiiii,ry l,[i;i,(, iilic iilioiild iii'.p;i,ni,li(', 
her lif(5 from Ui<-, iil'f, of her children. An n, luuXU-.r of 
faef;, it (j(if.dil. l,o dc.|)c,tid on wlisij, i;i tier Inmhand'H Horiial 
ponition, or on whsi,!/ iii hiii ide;i, of her dnlje,;; |,o him. In 
l;ho (;iuie,ii whe.re if, iii mo!ii, diKieiill, for ii, wom;i,(i l,o nee, 
much of lier e.hildre.u jej, ii;i ii!i,y, in the lii,r;'_e, honiieH of 
Uio rlcli in lowti oreounUy il< iii hotter that ehddien iuhI 
gOVorrieHH nhould he turner) into the lioiitfi, and tfiat the 
parontH and ^UOhIh Hhould i/o to tliem for ten,, rii,the,f than 
the liHual ii,r»'ii,ri(,^erne,fit of the (diildren he.in;/ hroiiejit i/ito 
th(5 drawing-nxnn. 

In HOOakin}.', to yonni^ niothe,ni who ii.re, inelinr^d to ho 
ovor-anxioUK, !i,nd whrj herein W(jrryin;; tlie.rDiielveji over 
detailn of th(;ir efiildron'n ecJuen-tion, I ii,lwii,yn try a,nd 
rotniruJ them t[ifi,t no education really alfecitH the, charact(!r 
very rmicli Ixifore al)Out Lw(5lve ye,ii,rH old, ho lon^; an 
attfifition in [)ai<J in every way U> their lie.alth and to the 
kind of /Mirnen whrj are ahout ttie.jn. Ah one, /^etn old, 
one r(!memh(;rH th(} nurrjhe,rn of children tliat w<;re hrou^ht 
up in totally d I n'crcrit way H ; and yet, roughly Hjjeaking, 

Y 



322 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

in spito of oithor spoiling or nogloct, over- or under- 
educating, how few belonging to the same class are really 
mucli bettor or much worse than their fellows— in fact, 
what an ordinary level they attain ! What marked 
dififerences do exist are due much more to individuality 
of character than to the various trainings thoy have 
undergone. Even the most earnest mothers have some- 
times to own that the children of parents who took no 
pains at all turn out quite as well as their own. I refer, 
of course, to what is called intellectual education, and not 
to the physical. I once more come back to saying that 
neglect of health and over-stimulating of tlio brain before 
the age, say, of fifteen in excitable, clever children are the 
only two things that really might work for evil on the 
future. No true opinion about the character of a child 
can be arrived at till the age of sixteen or seventeen, 
though guesses more or less correct may be made much 
earlier. The education of children depends so immensely 
on the gradual growtli and development of the mother 
herself, and on the influences through which she passes. 
Those mothers most admired in their devotion to their 
babies have generally turned out, according to my ob- 
servation, the least satisfactory, and the least able to 
control and guide their children in later life. This is due, 
of course, to temperament and to the woman being one 
who is satisfied witli the nursery, who never looks forward, 
who ceases to cultivate herself after'marriage, and who, 
above all, does not keep pace with the generation which 
lies between herself and her children, this generation 
being the only one that will interpret her children to 
herself when they are grown up. A mother should be 
on her guard about changing her methods because some 
one else's children seem more or better instructed or 
prettier-mannered than her own. To be actively in- 
fluenced as regards your children by the comments of 



DAUGHTERS 323 

others is, I think, a mistake. Take all the advice you 
can get all round, but never act upon it till you have 
thoroughly digested it and seriously considered whether 
it agrees with your general plan or not. Nothing is so 
easy as to train children like monkeys or dancing dogs ; 
nothing so difficult as to make that sort of show-training 
of the smallest use in the far more important factor of 
character development. Children who are brought up 
naturally must often be naughty and disagreeable in 
family meetings, which mortifies the mother, but is only 
an experience gained to the child. What hurts us is 
not so much that those wo love should say what they 
think, as that they think what they say. 

I remember a boy who was once foolishly talked to 
by his mother for not being so clever or so industrious 
as the little A.'s, some neighbour's children. The boy 
instantly answered, ' But, mother, are you and father the 
least like Mr. and Mrs. A. ? ' There is a good deal in the 
answer; the first essential is to be ourselves, our best 
selves certainly, but no imitation of others, and never 
wishing to be so as regards our children. Even when 
we strive to be original, we often only end in being affected. 
Mr. Euskin says : ' That virtue of originality that men 
strive after is not newness, as they vainly think (there is 
nothing new) ; it is only genuineness.' Every form of 
training has its merits and its defects, both in the present 
and the future. 

On looking back myself, I can honestly say that whsit 
was least usual, least conventional, and most criticised 
by others is what I regret the least in the education of 
my own sons. 

To continue what I have to say about little girls ; the 
moment they are what doctors call delicate — that is to 
say, have any constitutional or hereditary weakness — still 
more, if there is any organic disease — no sacrifice on the 

y 2 



324 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

part of parents is, to my mind, too great, and no neglect 
of education is to be thought of compared to improving 
the child's state of health. Nothing is so likely to do 
that as high country air or sea air for a great part of the 
year. Girls may grow up healthy and strong, though they 
live in London nearly all the year round, but it is un- 
doubtedly a risk which should never slip out of the 
mother's mind, especially if the remaining in London 
is associated with any selfish purposes of her own, either 
as regards pleasure or expense. In France the teaching 
of Eousseau still unconsciously influences society, and 
fashionable doctors insist on delicate children being sent 
right away into the country, to lead almost peasants' 
lives. This plan I never can feel is kind or even wise, 
though it ensures the advantages of no excitement, 
country air, and liberty to run in and out — so necessary 
an element in child-life. But it rather resembles turning 
thin-skinned stable-horses, with their tails cut, into a 
gi-een field full of sunshine and flies. Delicately born 
and nurtui'ed children must suffer from the rough life. 

In England, on the contrary, I think we often sacri- 
fice our girls' good to the selfish pleasure of keeping 
them with us, making the girls' education the excuse. 
Bi'oadly speaking, it is far better for a woman to be 
strong, healthy, intelligent, observant, and, above all, 
adaptable to the changes and chances of this mortal life, 
than that she should be well educated. Intelligence is 
no doubt inborn, a gift that belongs to no class ; bad 
health may injure it, but no higher education will ever 
give it to those who are without it, nor will it ever make 
what I consider the ideal woman. 

The longer I live, the more I believe that a woman's 
education, if she has not to learn some special trade, 
should be awakening and yet superficial, teaching her to 
stand alone and yet not destroying her adaptability for a 



DAUGHTERS 325 

woman's highest vocation, if she can get it — which is, of 
course, marriage and motherhood. 

The word superficial, its dictionary synonym being 
shallow, is one that will, I fear, be a rock of offence to 
many ; and yet I know none better. Mr. Morley, in his 
lecture on Popular Culture, expresses what I mean when 
he says : ' What I should like to see would be an 
attempt to compress the whole history of England into 
a dozen or fifteen lectures — lectures, of course, accom- 
panied by catechetical instruction. I am not so extrava- 
gant as to dream that a short general course of this kind 
would be enough to go over so many of the details as 
it is desirable for men to know ; but details in popular 
instruction, though not in the study of the writer or the 
University professor, are only important after you have 
imparted the largest general truths. It is the general 
truths that stir a life-like curiosity as to the particulars 
which they are the means of lighting up.' That is what 
I mean by superficial teaching, something which gives a 
desire in the child or the girl to learn. Instead of boring 
her to death with what teachers consider the roots and 
foundations of knowledge, and which no child can under- 
stand or appreciate, I would strive to arouse curiosity, 
and trust that she would go deeper herself when the 
desire for knowledge came. 

Mr. Morley goes on to say : ' Another point is worth 
thinking of, besides the reduction of history for your 
purposes to a comprehensive body of rightly grouped 
generalities. Dr. Arnold says somewhere that he wishes 
the public might have a history of our present state of 
society traced backwards. It is the present that really 
interests us ; it is the present that we seek to understand 
and to explain. I do not in the least want to know what 
happened in the past, except as it enables me to see my 
way more clearly through what is happening to-day. I 



326 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

want to know what men thought and did in the thir- 
teenth century, not out of any dilettante or idle anti- 
quarian's curiosity, but because the thirteenth century is 
at the root of what men think and do in the nineteenth. 
Well, then, it cannot be a bad educational rule to start 
from what is most interesting, and to work from that 
outwards and backwards.' 

I mourned a good deal in my own youth over the fact 
that I had been very badly educated, and this certainly 
stimulated me, at a period when time was wanting, to do 
what I could for myself. But on looking back over the 
last thirty-five years — and speaking again, of course, only 
from my own very limited experience — I should say that 
all the women who have done best in life among my 
married kinsfolk and acquaintances were those who were 
most superficially and casually educated. Two women 
are known to me who have filled the highest positions 
admirably, who have been crowns of glory to their 
husbands, and have been universally recognised as 
women of the noblest type by all who have come in 
contact with them in many parts of the world. As 
children they were by no means exceptionally clever, 
and their regular governess education ceased at the 
extremely early age of twelve. They were left, with 
occasional masters, to learn what they could and improve 
themselves; but they had from their earliest years the 
great advantage of constantly moving about. Some- 
times town, sometimes country, and often abroad, they 
were never in one place for six months at a time. Many 
parents are so afraid of making these breaks in the 
continuity of their girls' education, and — as is only 
human — the governesses and teachers are always against 
it. One of the disadvantages of classes and competitive 
education is that ambitious children themselves often 
object to their studies being broken into. But all the 



DAUGHTERS 327 

experience of moving about, the little hardships and 
privations that come even in our modern luxurious 
travelling, are an immense advantage and training to 
children, revealing their individual characters to their 
mother as no home life ever can. The impressions 
gained through the eyes and ears are incomparably mor 
lasting and real than any information learnt from books. 

Bad temper in children is a thing that, in my opinion, 
ought always to be treated with the utmost kindness, 
gentleness, tenderness, and consideration. It is generally 
a matter of health and nerves, and often may be, in some 
mysterious way, inherited from the mother's irritability 
during her pregnancy, which is caused very frequently 
by a feeling of dislike at having a child at all. Surely, 
then, this demands our utmost tenderness. I think that, 
in a family, the children with good and even tempers 
ought to be talked to in a way to make them understand 
that, if they tease and annoy the child with the hot 
temper, they are quite as much to blame as the irritable 
ones themselves. The even-tempered child generally 
means the indifferent one, and this in itself is an irrita- 
tion to one who is excitable and highly strung. 
Thwarting and contradicting only do harm ; love, tender- 
ness, gentleness, and great attention to health may do 
good. In short, the true situation is revealed to us 
by the old Persian philosopher's prayer : — * God ! be 
merciful to the wicked. To the good Thou hast already 
been sufficiently merciful in making them good.' 

In my youth, and still more before my time, girls 
were brought up to think that marriage was their one 
and only chance in life, and that, if they did not marry 
quite young, they would never marry at all. Now they 
know much more about the difficulties and dangers of 
life, and pride themselves on not thinking about marriage. 
This seems to me a mistake; they ought to think of 



,}.!.H I'OI' I'OUI^KI I'KOM A SDKKICV (lAKDI'lN 

i(< V(wy Hdrioiiiily ii.iid from dvciy poiiili of vicnv, ho IliiiJ/ 
tiluiy hIioiiM Ix) ii.hio and I'l^iuly do H(n/,(i on iJut priul icid 
Holiiliioii wlutn lilio (liiVKnilliy luindH. IVIiu'i'iii,;;n hIiouM noL 
\h) w, vvoninirH only pi'ofdHHion, l)nl, il> nhoiild hn luii' \n\H\i 
iMid liif^li(vil, lio|)(i. I'lvmy (;iil iiliould l,ry iind niiiilu) 
lMM'H(<li' w'oi'Uiy ol ilp liolili in liody iind mind, luid iJiin 
ii,liliil.nd(^ will noli midid n, ;',iil I'lovv iiil,o i\, InsM H(inHil)lo old 
maid il mIki Ii:ui I.o \h\ ond. (itdiiuu a,Hk(^d IV1adM,mn 
d'l'ipina), iJid vviii.(<r of l.lm I'lunomi 'Mnnioii'iiH' in ilio 
latil, c.ciil.niy, and i,\\t\ I'licnd of IvoiiiinciUi, wliad wnrn luir 
vi(ivvH of womim'H (idticalion. 'I'liin in luw loply : ' Voim 
voidn/ HiLVoii' do nioi r.i\ (pi'inui fcunnu^ doil. (M.udi(U'V Sa 
lanK'X*. 'I'll" <pi'('llo puitiiin piulci- (^1, (^(•.|■il•(^ corri^clcMncnl/. 
|ja poi'min, Hi olh^ y a du pnnclianl. ; on l>oul> idln doid 
(udlivcu' toujouTH Hon inia^;inaUon, car In vrai mnriLn ilcH 
I'nnininH nli do lour Hooiol.o oomhIhIiO on iw (pi'(dloH wont 
nioinn faol,io(^H, moiim f^A,tooH, nioiim (Moi;;nooH ^U\ la 
nidiiiro ol, pur oola pluH aJmahloH ; (Wi fii.il. do mora,l(» (^ll<in 
iloivoidi oliudior l)oa,ii(M)iip l(^H honmioi-i (^1. jamais Ioh 
fonun(Hi, olloii doivcwd, o.omiaifro (^1, ol,udi(U' doUH loH ridi- 
(luloii doii liommoM ol, jamaiti oiMix d(>;i fomm(<M.' 

In Uio (layH lonj; a,(^(), wlion my oinldron woro 
oliildr(Mi, and, an in apt. lo Ito tlio oi>,ho wlion ono in kui'- 
roimdod wiMi a nmall j^rowin;; up family, half iJio popii- 
hvliion of lilio world H(MUiiod to whi lo l)o oliiIdr(Wi, my 
tli()U^;htH w«M'o HO O(ud,rod on fl\(\ nnhjool/ iJiali nothing; 
oIho a,ppoa.nul to m(< of any i\\on.\, impoifiUico. At, |j)ii,li 
tint(^ two hooks <;m.\(i m(> nuioh oondorl., siipporli, and 
insliiiolion. Ono was ' l'l(luoa,trion : lnt,(^llo()tiUa.l, Mora,l, 
and I'hyHioal,' hy Ihuhoil, Mp(>no(M'. Thin hook, now so 
nnioh r(\a,d and so widoly known, rcnpnros no ro(5oni- 
mondaliion from anyoiui, hnl. I do wish to say t.ha,t. ovory 
lalih(>r ii,nd mofhor should i(>ad it, not, on(ii\ hid, :inn,in and 
ajj[«,in. Hoin(^ will tlisa;',r(ni with on»» p!i.rt, a,nd sonu^ with 
a,tiol,h(\r, hull I dt>fy anyhody fo roa,d il, without, a oortain 



DAUGHTERS 329 

clearing of the head and opening of the mind, most essen- 
tial to those who have the heavy responsibihty of training 
the young. If there is one thing above all others that 
repeats its faults ad nauseam and is blindly conservative, 
it is the management of children in the nursery and 
schoolroom. Mr. Herbert Spencer's book has fortunately 
now reached a very cheap edition. It is a book created 
by the hand of genius, and not the result of personal 
experience. I humbly bow to it in grateful thanks for 
all the good I derived from its perusal. 

The second book is called ' Levana, or The Doctrine 
of Education,' by Jean Paul Frederick Eichter, and is 
only accessible to me through the translation into 
English. It is a book full of thought and wisdom, and it 
speaks of prosaic things in a poetic manner ;' and though 
the opening chapters apply to both sexes, it refers rather 
to the training of daughters than of sons, as being the 
first and most important business of a mother. I can 
strongly recommend its perusal ; at the same time a good 
deal of it is, of course, out of date. It is v^itten by a 
German, and entirely from a man's point of view. The 
book is full of love and tenderness, and may perhaps be 
thought very high-flown and old-fashioned in these days. 
This does not matter ; it speaks of the undying facts of 
Nature, which will last as long as the world does. I 
cannot resist copying here one passage, which I believe 
will come home tenderly to every mother who is about 
to give away in marriage a loved young daughter : — 

' Certainly a wisely and purely educated maiden is so 
poetic a flower of the dull world, that the sight of this 
glorious blossom hanging, some years after the honey- 
moon, with yellow faded leaves in unwatered beds, must 
grieve any man who beholds it with a poet's eye ; and 
who must, consequently, in sorrow over the common 
usefulness and servitude of the merely human life, over 



330 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

the difference between the virgin and the matron, utter 
the deadliest wishes ; yes, I say, he would rather send 
the virgin with her wreath of rosebuds, her tenderness, 
her ignoi'ance of the sufferings of life, her dream-pictures 
of a holy Eden, into the gi'aveyard of earth, which is 
God's field, than into the waste places of life. Yet do it 
not, poet ! The virgin becomes a mother, and gives 
birth to the youth and the Eden which have fled from 
her ; and to the mother herself they return, and fairer 
than before : and so let it be as it is.' 

We have of late been going through a transition stage 
on the question of giving liberty and independence to 
young women. The most enlightened mothers, during the 
last twenty years, in their anxiety to be in touch with the 
times, have perhaps given their girls too great liberty when 
too young, and when the girls have grown older, from fear 
perhaps of what people might say, they have made the 
fatal mistake of trying to tighten the reins. Let parents 
and even young husbands realise that liberty once given 
can never be withdrawn from individuals, any more than 
from nations, without quarrels and trouble. The liberty 
of women within certain limits must grow, and society 
will adapt itself to it. The good and the bad will go on 
as they have always done, uninfluenced by the swing of 
the pendulum or the fiats of fashion. One generation 
shows the shoulder and hides the arm, the other covers 
up the shoulder and displays the arm. In my mother's 
youth it was thought fast to valse, in my youth it was 
thought fast to sit out with a partner after dancing, and 
now girls valse and sit out and ride bicycles, and none of 
these things make or unmake good women. 

I should say seventeen or eighteen was quite young 
enough for a girl to begin serious study, if she is inclined 
that way. In childhood attend to the grace and beauty 
of her body, let her know her own language well, teach 



DAUGHTERS 331 

her music (to discover if she has a taste for it, that can be 
developed) and foreign languages, for they cannot be learnt 
later, and are of great use to women in many positions 
in life. If she shows any taste for drawing, encourage it 
in all ways, giving her time in which to do it, but no 
serious lessons till she is much older. The drudgery of 
early teaching often destroys any taste the child may 
have. Pay great attention to handwriting ; a good and 
cultivated handwriting is quite easy to acquire young, 
and is a continual advantage to a woman through life. 

Another thing that mothers should teach their children, 
and of which they should ever remind their young men 
and women as they grow older, is the extreme importance 
of prompt note-answering. The habit of writing notes 
and letters, which is now going somewhat out of fashion, 
is certainly of great assistance in helping us to obey the 
golden rule never to turn a friend into an enemy by mere 
carelessness or idleness, for want of a little trouble or of 
the explanation which, if neglected, often changes the 
whole character of the situation into one that is hard and 
difficult, and even in some cases irreparable. 

Some years ago I sympathised much and took great 
interest in the movement that tended towards the higher 
education of women. I still think that every door should 
be thrown open and every facility given, both as regards 
education and professional employment, to such women 
who have mind and strength for the competition. The 
great danger of over-educating young girls is that they 
are so much keener and work so much harder than boys ; 
and even if it does not injure their health, it very often 
unfits them for Hfe, and makes them dissatisfied with 
their home and its surroundings. 

The great objection to the superficial education I 
recommend and believe to be so advantageous to the 
prosperous, is that it may degenerate into idleness and 



332 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

frivolity in times of prosperitj', and so prove an utter 
failure in times of adversity, and in the possibility of 
having to earn a livelihood later in life. I think most 
sensible young women of the present day feel the 
necessity of attaining a proficiency in some one direction, 
to which they could turn for help in the hour of need. 
Very often, however, the occupation that might best be 
turned to bread-winning is not the one to which girls are 
most addicted in their prosperity. In such a case, when 
money-making is not the object, they must make their 
own standard, and reach, if possible, a high order of 
proficiency ; for to take up any one thing, and then 
to do it badly, has a deteriorating effect upon the 
moral nature. The superficial beginning which, accord- 
ing to my theory, is conducive to largeness of mind, 
is a good preparation to later special training. The 
only other alternative, which is the worst of all, is if girls 
fold their hands and say they are not clever, and that 
they can do nothing. With patience and perseverance 
every girl can do something. Once a woman has 
made up her mind that she has to earn her living, no 
concentration of study for the one particular occupation 
she has in view can be too thorough or too severe. The 
essential requirement for bread- winning is that she should 
be able to do some one thing better than the generality 
of people with whom she is in competition. 

Now we come to the eternal and ever-discussed 
question, what young girls should read. I have no 
hesitation in saying that, taking the question all round, 
the safest, wisest, most sensible way out of the diflficulty, 
is to let girls read from childhood anything they like. 
Never make a child come and ask, never forbid this book 
or that ; the moment you do, you get into a sea of hopeless 
difficulties. Where a girl is pure-minded, nothing will 
hurt her ; where she is not, the forbidding of one book 



DAUGHTERS 333 

and allowing another raises a curiosity which will do far 
more harm than leaving it alone. All that is harmful in 
the Bible or Shakespeare is simply not understood. Why 
should it not be the same with other books ? No one 
ever dreams of what they do not know. Dreams often 
distort and twist our knowledge ; no dream ever instructs 
us in anything of which we are ignorant. 

Without forbidding any one book or other, it would 
be wise for a mother to recommend her daughter not to 
read the current novels of the day, at the time they are 
being continually discussed in public, if they are of a 
nature which unfits her to join in the conversation. It 
is not that there is harm in having read the book, but 
there are some things which it is impossible for a girl to 
talk about. In Richter's ' Levana,' which I mention 
elsewhere, there are some excellent passages on this very 
subject. In this permission to read or not to read books, 
as in all else that seriously concerns the education of 
children, the all-important thing is that the father and 
mother should agree. Nothing has so bad an effect on 
children, and they are quick to learn it, as that father 
thinks one thing and mother another. A wife had far 
better allow a fault to pass than try to stop that which 
she knows her husband would allow ; and a husband had 
far better back the mother when he thinks her wrong 
than condemn her before her children. There is an old 
saying that widows' children turn out well. I do not 
think this means that women are more fitted to manage 
a family alone than men are, but men very rarely give the 
subject their consideration. There is nothing, when men 
really try, that they do not do better than women — from 
the highest in art and literature, to the humblest cooking 
and tailoring. I think the old saw merely means that one 
will and one law are better than a divided judgment. If 
a woman has strong views on education, let her begin by 



334 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

educating and persuading her husband. If she cannot 
do this, let her simply try and carry out his wishes and 
views, wliatever they are. 

Not an unusual trouble of family life is that the 
energetic, and those who are happy through employing 
themselves, no matter in what way, are apt to be a sore 
trial to the idle and to those who want to be amused and 
excited. Many of us know the disappointment of rushing 
into a room, anxious to confide something of great or no 
importance to a sympathetic human being, and finding 
presented towards us what can only he described as a 
busy back, and the chilled feehng which results from 
the doubt whether or not we have any right to disturb it. 

Sometimes the parents are idle and the children 
industrious, which is perhaps the most common. The 
children must then not exact an interest in their work, 
which they are not likely to get. Schopenhauer says : 
* Whoever seriously takes up and pursues an object that 
does not lead to material advantages must not count on 
the sympathy of his contemporaries.' 

When parents are the energetic, hard-working ones, 
let them remember a passage in a letter of Madame de 
Stael's, whose biography is so interesting because she 
represents in a large sense what most women are in a 
smaller. She writes from England in 1813: — 'II n'y a 
point de ressources dans mes enfants; ils sont 6teints, 
singulier effet de ma flamme.' So often children by their 
very natures are only contrasts to ourselves. What our 
children are born, tliey remain ; of that I am sure. By 
this I mean that there are certain qualities of character 
which we can no more change than we can alter the 
colour of the hair and eyes. What we can do is to help 
each one to make the best of what ho or she actually is, still 
better said by an old saint, ' Do not try to be not what 
you are, but very well what you are ! ' 



DAUGHTERS 



335 



How many years ago it is since John Stuart Mill 
wrote : ' When will education consist, not in repressing 
any mental faculty or power, from the uncontrolled action 
of which danger is apprehended, but in training up to its 
proper strength the corrective and antagonistic power ? * 
This is only very old wisdom in other words, as it is 
Aristotle who says that true virtue is placed at an equal 
distance between the opposite vices. 

This quoting the wisdom of others you perhaps will 
think very cheap philosophy. It is better, however, than 
trying, hke Sydney Smith, to write a book of maxims, and 
failing to do so, as he himself says he never got further 
than the following : ' Towards the age of forty, women 
get tired of being virtuous and men of being honest.' I 
must, all the same, admit that there are many less true 
sayings than this one. 

A tendency of the present day is towards a kind of 
hardness — at any rate, outwardly. It is not the fashion to 
be low-spirited, and for a woman to cry in public is thought 
a shame. I confess I think there is a certain danger in 
the cultivation of qualities in women that bring forth a 
sort of glittering brightness which gives out light, not 
heat, and therefore fails to warm. Perhaps this suppres- 
sion is the very thing that helps to encourage one of the 
well-known complications of family life — namely, friend- 
ships. The difficulty follows us through life, as we all 
know how hard it often is to appreciate our friends' 
friends. This, however, is not of much importance, as 
the friends of our friends we can more or less avoid 
without discourtesy. But with the friends of our near 
relations the matter assumes considerable importance, 
and we absolutely owe it to them to treat their friends 
with extreme courtesy and kindness, however little 
maybe our sympathy towards them, or however critically 
we may judge them. 



336 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Some people are born without what Mr. George 
Meredith so well describes as ' the gift of intimacy.' They 
would be reserved, even in love, the only key that ever 
unlocks such hearts. Friendships they have none, either 
with their own sex or with the other. No doubt life is 
simpler to such people ; to others it would be unbearably 
lonely. There are a few women who would have been 
very glad of friends, but whose loyalty to the disloyal 
around them forces them into loneliness and silence, for 
there is no friendship in the world without confidence. 

Friendships are safety-valves, and the wisdom of 
safety-valves is easy to appreciate. All the same, these 
intimacies must be regulated and conducted upon the 
rules of civilised society. I love the young who wish to 
fight conventionalities and turn and boldly face Mrs. 
Grundy ; but I despise the old who do not help the young 
to see that they are only making useless martyrs of them- 
selves in a cause which is, at the bottom, not noble and 
not great, but only a method of giving vent to their own 
selfishness and self-indulgence. Before you fight con- 
ventionality you must prove that conventionality is 
wrong, and this can never be done by the young. To 
deny friendships to natures that require them is to force 
on them what Mr. Morley calls ' the awful loneliness of 
life — a life full of acquaintances as a cake is full of 
currants, no two ever touching each other.' It is one of 
the great sorrows of a high position that people cannot 
have intimates. Froude says somewhere : ' The great are 
expected to be universally gracious, and universal 
graciousness is perhaps only possible to the insincere 
or the commonplace, or to the supremely great and 
fortunate.' 

We cannot give anyone our experience. This is a 
common saying, and quite true from the point of view of 
the old. Nevertheless, if the young determine, through 



DAUGHTERS 337 

independence or pride, to work out their lives for them- 
selves, and refuse to be helped, guided, or taught by the 
knowledge and experience of those who have gone before 
them — in the books of the dead and the speaking of the 
living — they throw themselves back in the race in a way 
that generally, to my knowledge, has resulted in failure. 
Even cases of marked talent and individuality must learn 
from others. In art and in music they must all work, at 
first, after the manner of someone else. Supposing, for 
instance, that Albert Diirer had lived in Venice, he would 
have been a Venetian painter, and not have worked on the 
lines of the old German painters. This would have been 
greatly to his advantage. It is true that circumstances do 
not make talent, but they immensely influence it ; so 
nothing in the lives and training of the young who are 
no longer children, especially if they are precocious and 
clever, is unimportant. 

On looking back, one of the disappointments of my 
life, when I recollect how the matter was discussed and 
written about in my girlhood, is the little progress that 
has been made in the laying-by and organising of 
fortunes for girls. I do not only mean leaving them a 
few thousand pounds at the death of both parents, but, 
as a matter of course, either giving them a sum of money, 
as the French do, when they marry, or giving them a 
sufficient allowance, according to the fortunes of the 
father, if they take to any employment and do not marry. 
The modern hack phrase, that children owe their parents 
nothing for bringing them into the world without their 
leave, is of course ridiculous ; but I do think a right- 
minded father ought to realise that a woman who has 
not a penny she can call her own, is a kind of 
slave. The same thing applies to a husband if a wife 
goes to him with nothing. She cannot even give a 
present without asking him for the money, I think 



338 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

girls would be much happier if at twenty-one they were 
given allowances sufficient, not only for dress — which 
should begin, as with boys, much earlier — but to cover 
all expenses, except board and lodging : namely, journeys, 
theatres, doctors, dentists, amusements, masters, and so 
on. One girl would spend her allowance in one way and 
one in another, but she would get as much profit or pleasure 
to her individual self out of it as she could afford. If she 
were well, she would not want doctors and dentists ; if 
she were ill, she would not want amusements : and in 
either case she would be learning the value of money. 
We all know the discussions that go on in every family. 
In one case the mother wishes her daughter to have 
singing and piano lessons, though the daughter is 
indifferent ; the master is hired, and the money and time 
are more or less wasted. In another case the daughter 
is pining for drawing lessons, and the mother looks upon 
it as rather a waste of money. Both these cases would 
be adjusted if the deciding of their own education and 
the paying of the lessons rested with the grown-up 
daughters. This ought not to prevent mothers and 
daughters from discussing together what is the most 
desirable course to adopt ; it merely leaves the ultimate 
decision with the learner. In fact, I would extend these 
family discussions to all the important matters of life, and 
even call in some reliable friend or relation, whose opinion 
is valued by all parties, to help in the decision, on the 
lines of that powerful legal arrangement which, in 
French family life, is called conseil de famille. We get 
so many useful hints on family life by the reading of 
biographies that, to my mind, it is the most interesting of 
aU literature for the middle-aged. In Darwin's ' Life ' I 
was immensely struck by an uncle interfering to over- 
rule the decision of the good kind father, who had 
refused the offer ^that young Darwin should go for the 



DAUGHTERS 339 

scientific voyage on the ' Beagle.' The father instantly- 
yielded to the opinion of his brother, and this perhaps 
decided the whole of Darwin's life. 

When I say that it is wise to gather as many 
opinions as we can, it must always be with the idea 
of helping our own judgment, never as putting the 
responsibility on to others of any important decision, 
which ought to rest entirely with ourselves, and which, as 
in the case of Darwin's father, we may entirely alter ; but 
when we change, we equally accept the responsibility of 
any important decision quite independently of the adviser. 

It stands to reason that when parents give their 
children money to spend according to their own wishes 
and tastes, they are acting a great deal more unselfishly 
than when they spend on their children, however 
lavishly, only to make them do what the parents con- 
sider desirable. This giving freedom to children means 
a good deal more self-sacrifice on the part of the parents, 
and, as the unselfishness of one person is very apt to 
produce the selfishness of another, it is a question for 
each parent to decide whether the sacrifice had better 
come from the old or from the young. It is an undeni- 
able fact that the tastes of children are likely to be the 
reverse, rather than a repetition, of the tastes of their 
parents. In weighing these questions, however, you 
must always cast into the scale the importance of a true 
knowledge of the value of money, which nothing but 
practical experience can give. 

Few things bring such ruin, in every sense of the 
word, to the happiness of married life as the extravagant 
wife — the wife who runs up bills, and who amidst tears 
and penitence and promises not to do the same again, 
immediately does so. Can anything as much as this, 
short of actual immorality, bring a respectable woman so 
nearly to the level of the unrespectable ? 

z2 



340 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

Strong advocate as I am for marriage, I do agree 
with Miss Frances Power Cobbe, ' That for a woman to 
fail to make and keep a happy home is to be a greater 
failure, in a true sense, than to have failed to catch a 
husband.' I have noted somewhere the following sentence, 
and I think it as true as it is lofty in tone : ' There is 
only one real power in this world for man or woman — 
the power given by character. It carries far more weight 
than talent does without it. The woman who cultivates 
unswerving rectitude, firm energy, and persevering good- 
ness, will become a centre and a factor in the lives of 
others, wherever her lot is cast. All round us we see 
such women forced by outside pressure into positions of 
comparative, if not positive, prominence, and they have 
no need to whine over the unalterable fact of sex.' 

The better a girl or a woman is treated by a father or 
a husband in the matter of money, the more heavily does 
the duty remain with her to remember that, after all, the 
money is only conditionally hers, and that no woman has 
a right to eat a man's food, dress with his money, enjoy 
his luxuries to the full, and then not in every way try to 
please him ; and certainly she should never do systemati- 
cally that which he distinctly disapproves. If she cannot 
persuade him, she must submit and do his will. No 
woman is really free who cannot keep herself ; and even 
if she earns her own livelihood, she has to submit to her 
employers. 

One can hardly write a ' note ' on girls and avoid the 
great subject of dress. Certainly let the young dress in 
the fashion, in order to be attractive ; for there is no doubt 
that, even if the fashion is ugly, to be dressed in the 
fashion looks smart. When I was young I was scolded 
for trying always to get the last new pattern from Paris. 
I used appealingly to remark, ' I can't be graceful, let me 
be smart.' There are always certain women who can 



DAUGHTERS 341 

dress artistically and peculiarly, and who look well in 
whatever they put on ; but these are the exception, and 
their imitators — as is usual with imitators— are apt to 
adopt their faults rather than their merits. Exceptional 
dress, independently of the wearer, is rarely, I think, 
attractive. Women who have dropped oiit of the 
fashion themselves are apt to be a little tried, when 
their daughters grow up, by the dress of the day, and to 
think it rather exaggerated and ridiculous, just as the 
daughter would feel her mother's wedding-gown to be 
impossible and out-of-date. A mother can only give her 
daughter general training, and then leave her to dress 
as she likes, merely offering her the kindly criticism that 
would be given her by a friend or a sister; for every 
woman looks best in that which she herself has chosen, 
and which is an indication of her own individuality. By 
this I do not deny that many a mother would dress her 
daughter much better than the girl would dress herself ; 
but the note of character would be wanting, which, in my 
opinion, makes dress in the long run the most becoming. 

Even when they are children, little girls often surprise 
their parents by saying something unexpectedly different 
from what they have been taught. I know a father who, 
when walking with his small daughter in the streets of 
London, stopped before the window of a smart milliner's 
shop. When they had looked and admired for a little time, 
the father, perhaps rather priggishly, remarked : ' After 
all, my dear, I like simplicity best.' The child answered : 
' That's not at all like me, father ; I like splendour best.' 

Deny it as we will, the real object of dress is to 
attract ; and for a woman to dress herself in crimson and 
purple, when she knows quite well that her husband or 
father prefers quiet colours, or even black, shows a 
neglect of the amenities of life that is stupid, if it is 
nothing worse. 



342 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

From a higher point of view, there is nothing so im- 
portant in dress as the accentuation of what are our 
physical characteristics. A fat girl in tight tailor-made 
clothes looks ridiculous. A girl with a tall slight figure, 
like a boy, looks well tight and neat, ready for the active 
exercise she is fit for. The womanly woman looks best 
in soft laces and rufiles and chiffons, be she fat or thin. 

Let middle-aged and old women, except when they 
are widows, di-ess in the fashion slightly modified. They 
are then neither conspicuous nor ridiculous. Is there 
not wisdom in dressing rather in advance of your years 
than behind it ? Many a dress lasts three or four years ; 
so we ought, at turning-points in our lives, to remember 
that this makes a difi'erence. It has been said that the 
lamp of life is not to be measured by the age of the vessel, 
but by the supply of the light. Prettily expressed, I 
admit, and there is something in it, but it is only a half- 
truth, and the Baptismal Eegister is the best guide for us 
personally. Nothing displeases the young so much as to 
see the generation before them dressed too youthfully, 
and nothing so accentuates the years that have passed 
over a woman as the outward display of her having for- 
gotten them herself. I remember once remarking to a 
friend how well a tall, slight woman dressed, and how it 
suited and improved her. ' Yes,' said he, ' a thin, tall 
woman is a peg for clothes ; but there is all the dif- 
ference in the world, as the Frenchman said, between 
une belle taille and un beau corps.' So there are con- 
solations in all things, and many of the great passions 
of the world have been for plain women — perhaps because 
they themselves are so much more grateful for the affec- 
tion given. Beauty added to other things is a great 
power ; let no one despise it. It is often easier for a 
beautiful woman to behave well than for her plainer 
sisters. She has the ball at her feet, and she knows it. 



DAUGHTERS 343 

I have been asked whether an unmarried woman is 
happier with a profession or without one. Without hesita- 
tion of course I answer — 'Yes, with a profession,' especially 
if it is the outcome of any particular talent. The real 
cause of the happiness which ensues is that it gives her 
the same excuse and the same ease to her conscience for 
selfishness as a man has. It always works round to the 
same thing — how much can a woman evade her home 
duties in order to be able to indulge in any intellectual 
occupation which takes up her mind, to the detriment of 
the ordinary, petty drudgeries such as practically absorb 
most women's lives ? The great difiiculty for a woman 
who is head of a house, or even for a daughter who helps 
much in the management of a house, allowing herself the 
pleasure of any intellectual employment — be it writing, or 
art, or music, or even reading conducted as a study — is 
that the very meaning of work is absorption. Women 
are by their natures impressionable and too apt to become 
engrossed in anything they are doing, to the neglect of 
the claims of others. It is not exactly the time that it 
takes from the husband and children, but the thoughts of 
a woman are not quickly brought back to the level of her 
ceaseless duties. I heard once of the wife of an Ambassa- 
dor, who was devoted to drawing, having arranged for a 
dinner for royalties, &c., planning the details with her ser- 
vants in her usual careful way. The day arrived, she had 
time on her hands, the weather was lovely ; she took her 
sketching things and went out. She became so absorbed 
in her drawing and the beauty of the evening that the 
royal guests, the husband, and the dinner became abso- 
lutely effaced from the tablet of her memory. She arrived 
home at half-past nine, to find her husband agonised, 
her guests expectant and a little angry, all believing she 
must have come to some injury. This little anecdote 
exactly illustrates what I mean, and describes the struggle 



344 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

that goes on, more or less, in many women's lives. Of 
course the same thing occurs, to a great degree, with 
busy men, whose brains are often as much occupied, to the 
exclusion of other things, in the work that interests them. 
But since, as a rule, they have more power of arrang- 
ing their- lives to suit their tastes, their absorption affects 
less the happiness or convenience of others, and they 
often have a practical wife who helps them out of their 
difficulties. No doubt there are instances of both men 
and women who have the power of combining, in the 
highest sense, both work and play. A pathetic little 
touch in a woman's biography is of how Mrs. Browning 
wrote ' Aurora Leigh ' as an invalid in Paris. She was con- 
stantly interrupted by friends and visitors, and used quietly 
to tuck the little bits of paper under the pillow of her 
sofa, to resume her imaginative work when again alone. 
The complications of life were lessened for her by the fact 
that she [inhabited a sick-room. I think the women who 
will do most for the cause of their sex in the future are 
those who cease to fight for an equality vdth men, which 
is practically an impossibility, and will strive, from their 
youth up, to keep a just balance between duty, pleasure, 
and intellectual pursuits ; sometimes asking the help of 
others to decide when the two last must give way to the 
first. I am terribly tempted to scratch out this last 
sentence — it sounds so odiously priggish ; and yet, of 
course, we all know there is a good deal of truth in it. 

If a woman has been ever so successful in a profession, 
it is my experience that she gives it up after marriage. 
Every man always says, at the time of engagement, that 
he would not for the world interfere with her work ; but 
it always ends in the work being given up, if the house is 
to be properly kept. Imagine, if there were sickness or 
any other kind of domestic disaster in the house, the 
man would never dream of giving up his work, whatever 



DAUGHTERS 345 

it might be. But think of a woman, head of any such 
household, sitting down under the circumstances to write 
a poem, or to paint a picture, or going out to her model- 
ling studio ? The woman's profession must go to the 
wall, unless it is under the very exceptional circumstances 
when the woman is the bread-winner, or even partially 
so, and when disaster may increase the necessity for her 
earnings. 

Perhaps many Englishwomen would deny what I 
really believe to be the truth — namely, that passion is the 
great moving power of life, the root of all that is highest 
and noblest in us, the developer of all that is artistic, 
intellectual, affectionate, and even religious in ourselves. 
Some people may accuse me of inconsistency in saying 
this. Of that I should be proud, for can anything ever 
approach the inconsistency of life — especially, perhaps, 
the life of women? Women — Englishwomen, at all 
events — imagine that there is but one danger in having 
strong feeling, and that, if that is sufficiently suppressed 
in the direction which is natural and ordinary, it ceases 
to cause any alarm at all. I do not agree with this. It 
is a platitude to talk of the dual nature which we all have 
within us. The contrast between these two natures is 
much more marked, and causes a fiercer struggle, in 
passionate natures than in cold ones. 

Women as well as men have a twin within them, 
often concealed, which represents all that is strongest 
and most lovable in their natures. They generally 
have something which they like doing better than any- 
thing else in the world, and which for that reason is 
very apt to interfere with their duty, however innocent 
or even meritorious it may be in itself, whether it takes 
the form of writing, art, politics, philanthropy, or the 
practice of religion. If a married woman throws all this 
power, so often described as suppressed steam, into any 



346 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

employment that makes her daily duties tiresome and 
hateful to her, she is yielding to a form of self-indulgence 
which more or less feeds her vanity and robs her home 
and her children of that which is the most vivifying 
portion of herself and of the one most likely to call forth 
from them both admiration and esteem. 

This to many will be a hard sajdng, as it means 
leaving the higher employment of women to those who 
are most free from natural duties ; that is, generally, to 
the unmarried, who for that very reason are in some 
ways the least understanding of our sex. 

Mothers and fathers should never lose sight of the 
fact, as their daughters grow up, that confidence is only 
likely to begin when given first by parents to children, from 
the old to the yovmg. Sympathy is not the consequence 
of confidences, but the magnet that attracts them ; so 
by confiding in our children, we may fail to get their 
sympathy, but we are always able to give them ours. 

I think that mothers might remind their sons and 
daughters, especially when they are grown up, how very 
much the old like receiving the attention of the young, 
and seeing that the young have no fear of them ; for I do 
not doubt that, if young people really believed this, they 
would probably pay these attentions more often, with 
both advantage and interest to themselves. There is a 
great deal to be got out of the experience and memories 
of those much older than ourselves, if we can only make 
them realise how much we wish both to hear and to learn. 

In the management of house and children, as in a 
larger rule, let us remember that liberalism is a frame of 
mind which has for its root the simple morality of doing 
unto others as you would they should do unto you. 

It is a very doubtful question whether, in the houses 
of the fairly wealthy, the daughters can be of very much 
help to the mother unless she herself finds that she has 



DAUGHTERS 347 

more than she Hkes to do, and apportions certain depart- 
ments — such as housekeeping, card-leaving, writing notes, 
or gardening, &c. — to one or other of the daughters. The 
vague expectation in a mother that her daughter ought to 
help her, often results in a good deal of ordering about, a 
waste of time on the daughter's part, and that state of 
things generally which ends in friction. If a daughter is 
unusually unselfish, and constantly thinking how she can 
please and serve her mother, the result is that the 
daughter becomes a mere drudge, while the mother but 
half appreciates the sacrifice she has made of her life. 

We often discover in families the ideal woman of 
family life. She is always willing to immolate herself 
on the altar of duty and unselfishness, unconscious of 
this at the time, because to serve others is her pleasure, 
and consequently for the moment the development of 
her own nature. That woman, especially if she has 
intelligence as well, fills a want in the world that 
everyone acknowledges and admires. But, unless the 
situation is carefully watched, she herself may dis- 
cover too late that she has let her youth go by in the 
suppression of herself, and, without intending it, has 
ruined her own life. The one thing that is of vital 
importance is that the young should never be sacrificed 
to the old or the healthy to the unhealthy. Even if the 
mother and daughter work well together, there is hardly 
enough to occupy the time of two women, and divided 
rule never is satisfactory. It is a common view that 
housekeeping is rather an inferior employment for women, 
and only done well by the commonplace, who are devoted 
to it. I do not think this, though I quite admit that 
housekeeping is often very tiresome — or, rather, I would 
say wearisome — and every woman pines to get away from 
it now and then. Every head of a house — be she wife, 
mother or daughter — has to do it, and no woman worth 



348 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

her salt likes to do a thing and do it badly. If it is badly 
done, it is a humiliation ; when it is well done, it becomes 
a pride : and the approval of those we love is always a 
joy. Men differ, of course, very much in their apprecia- 
tion of cooking and other housekeeping matters. When 
the man cares, though he scold, or sigh and look miserable 
when things go wrong, it is more stimulating to the 
woman than when he appears indifferent ; but aU men 
and most women appreciate a well-kept house, though I 
have heard there are some women who make such 
grievance over their duties that the man almost wishes 
they were left alone. 

One of the most useful gifts in life is to be able to 
organise, command, and instruct others ; to use, in fact, 
the materials under your hand, instead of doing every- 
thing yourself. Servants certainly do not respect those 
who do their work for them, and the irresponsibility of 
the situation only makes them careless and indifferent. 
On the other hand, it should be thoroughly realised that 
no one can depute to others the control of their ex- 
penditure without greatly increasing it. 

In cooking, in dressmaking, in gardening, it is, so to 
speak, the scientific and aesthetic part which really ought 
to be done by the mistress of the house. She has time 
to study the books and newspapers; and if she really 
knows her work she will find no difiiculty in teaching it. 

Every generation is known to complain that servants 
have become useless and bad. I see no difference during 
my life-time ; in fact, I should say that the proportion of 
good servants had increased, rather than the contrary. 
Of course, their customs and ways have changed with 
telegrams, posts, and railways, as have the habits of 
everybody else ; and if any housekeeper has moments of 
depression, as we all have when things go cross, and 
thinks the world is going to the dogs, may I recommend 



DAUGHTERS 349 

a little study of eighteenth-century literature — above all, 
Boswell's ' Life of Johnson.' 

The spread of education is often brought forward as a 
reason for the deterioration of servants. I must put in a 
protest against this. I never will believe it ! On the 
contrary, Mill's definition of education will always remain 
true to me : ' The best employment of all the means 
which can be made use of for rendering the human mind, 
to the greatest possible degree, the cause of human 
happiness.' 

It is essential, for the well-regulating of a house, that 
the orders to servants should be given early in the morn- 
ing. Everything except flower-arranging ought to be got 
through in an hour. When people complain that house- 
keeping takes so long, it is either that they are ignorant 
and undecided, or that they are out of health, and come 
down very late in the morning, and things get out of 
order from being left to the servants for several days in 
the week. 

I fear many young people will probably think me 
priggish and disagreeable if I say that, be a woman ever 
so delicate, it is far better for her to get up early and see 
to her work, even if she finds it necessary to take a rest at 
twelve or three. I am a great believer in early rising, 
partly because it implies a generally healthy life, and 
means that there are no large late dinners or late going 
to bed ; for it is impossible to burn the candle at both ends. 
I think most women would work best in the morning ; 
but I quite admit that, owing to the faults of family life, 
time is seldom entirely her own, except in the privacy 
of her room, either at night or in the very early morning. 

Some years ago I was asked by a rich woman who 
had come to London with a view to entertaining, how I 
did it. She had come prepared to make a regular London 
list of unknown swells, and was rather surprised when I 



350 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

answered : ' I never send out formal invitations, and I 
never ask anyone who is not more or less a personal 
friend of my own, or someone brought at the request of 
one of these friends, this last being a distinct element of 
success.' If two people are really happy in a room, it 
sheds a glow of brightness all around them. This, to my 
mind, applies to all private and unofficial entertaining 
which is done for pleasure — one's own and that of others 
— rather than duty. All entertaining, to be good, should 
be a collection of people who meet because they either 
really know each other or would like to do so. The 
moment people are brought together for any reason 
connected with duty, the party, unless it is very large, is 
sure to go badly and to be dull. The dinners we all dread 
are those where the host and hostess ask people to meet 
each other because they have duties of various kinds to 
pay off. The deadly dulness of all garden parties in the 
country is a marked example of the extraordinary flatness 
that results from turning society into a social duty, and 
having to ask a whole neighbourhood at once, which is in 
no sense true hospitality. Duty and charity are excellent 
things, but they cannot be turned into agreeable social 
gatherings. 

I think it often surprises people, and especially men, 
that middle-aged women, even those who have no 
daughters, are so energetic and indefatigable in their 
efforts to go into society in a way they rather avoided 
than courted when they were younger. Society is always 
only too glad to shunt the middle-aged, and the middle- 
aged themselves so often feel it to be only a treadmill. I 
am sure the secret is to be found, consciously or uncon- 
sciously, in the love of power. It gives people the 
opportunities to help, not only their own children, if they 
have any, but other people in whom they may happen to 
be interested, who are often benefited by an opportune 



DAUGHTERS 351 

word in high places. This is what transforms the tread- 
mill and the burden and the labour into something so 
worth while that it almost becomes a pleasure. 

In entertaining at home, our object should be rather 
to help those who want help, and who may unex- 
pectedly rise into positions of power and trust, than 
always to be making up to those who are already in high 
places, and who are full of suspicion with regard to the 
civilities that are paid to them. To practise the wisdom 
of life, without standing on the stilts of higher morality, 
is rather a virtue than a vice in the middle-aged. It is as 
old as ^sop, who bids us not to despise making up to the 
mice ; for though you yourself may be very much a lion, 
the day may come when you will need the services of a 
mouse. We all know La Fontaine's summing-up of the 
old story : — ' II faut, autant qu'on peut, obliger tout le 
monde. On a souvent besoin d'un plus petit que soi.' 

One of the unexpected consolations to a woman who 
is leaving her youth behind her, is that she can take 
broader and more lenient views of the moral faults 
indulged in by her friends and acquaintances. It is a 
revelation that comes sooner or later to every woman 
how much is excused and sanctioned by society which 
in her youth would have seemed to her impossible. 
The middle-aged woman may often say to herself, half in 
fun, ' After all, a little remorse is better than a vast 
amount of regret. At any rate,' she adds, ' I will not 
police society. I might crush the weak, and I should do 
no harm to the strong.' Is it not true and even beautiful 
that ' tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner ' ? Middle-age 
is essentially the time of a lowered moral standard. This 
is the attitude of mind, let us say, between forty and fifty 
— a little sooner or a little later, according to the tem- 
perament. Then comes another phase, which is in no 
sense an hypocritical one. As the young around us grow 



352 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

into men and women, with the temptations and trials that 
life must always bring, we recall our own youth, and a 
feeling of responsibility, almost of awe, comes over us. 
Anyone who has gone through the ages would know what 
I mean. To forgive and excuse the mistakes and faults 
of life is a very different thing from helping the young 
out of the strait way. It has been truly said that it is 
all very well to sneer at commonplace morality in the 
abstract ; but the moment it is a question of any young 
people who are dear to us, we cannot help desiring it for 
them, though we may have laughed at it for ourselves. 
Then the young think the old uncharitable, narrow- 
minded, and unkind ; but they are not so. One of the 
saddest things in life is the isolation of the old. They 
can partly understand the young, but the young never can 
understand them, for are they not far away along a road 
the young have never seen ? 

Strange, is it not, that of the myriads who 
Before U3 passed the door of darkness through. 
Not one returns to tell us of the road. 
Which, to discover, we must travel too ? 

Omar Khayyam. 



APPENDIX 



JAPANESE ART OF ARRANGING CUT 
FLOWERS' 

It is now some years since Mr. J. Conder's excellent book, 
' The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement,' 
was first published. But the principles laid down in it have so 
little penetrated the art of cut-flower arrangements in England 
that it may be assumed either that the book is still very little 
known or that its teaching has been set down as unsuited to 
English flowers and flower-vases. The book is not published 
in England, but almost any bookseller will get it from Japan ; 
tlie cost is 21. 2s. The coloured plates, to which chiefly this 
high price is due, do not materially contribute to the expounding 
of the theory and, although full of character and beauty in 
themselves, could be omitted without loss to the main object 
of the book. A smaller and much cheaper edition of the work 
could then be produced and published in England.'^ 

• From the Garden of October 6, 1894. 

2 Mr. Conder has lately published three articles on the same subject 
in the October, December '96, and January '97 numbers of the Studio — 
that unusually artistic magazine which is to be had monthly for one shilling. 
Mr. Conder's articles are beautifully illustrated with numerous plates 
of Japanese designs, reproduced from photographs ; and in the text he 
sums up many of the most interesting points contained in his book. He 
docs not suggest that the art of which he writes could be applied to the 
arrangement of cut flowers in England, but it is to be hoped that these 
articles — which are, unfortunately, already out of print — may be re- 
published in book form. The groat beauty of the illustrations would do 
more to spread the practice of the art amongst English people than any 
■written theory upon it. — C. L., March 1897. 

A A 



354 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

lu the meanwhile, however, it is my object to spread its 
teaching and to show how, with but shght moditications and 
relaxation from the stricter Japanese rules, this artistic science 
may be adapted to English flowers and English drawing-rooms. 
It lias a strong claim to being adopted by all lovers of the 
beautiful and the practical combined because, first, these 
decorations have a quite unique beauty and refinement ; 
secondly, cut flowers and shrubs live long in water when sup- 
ported by a flower-holder in the Japanese way, to be described 
presently ; thirdly, only very few flowers or branches are 
required — a great advantage to those who have but small 
gardens, to people living in towns where flowers are expensive, 
and for the seasons of the year when flowers are scarce. Also 
an extremely decorative effect can be produced without making 
the room airless from the scent of many flowers. Fourthly, the 
infinite variety of design it is possible to produce with but few 
branches on the Japanese principle as compared to the English 
may be likened to the number of changes that can be rung on a 
few bells when a given system is followed, whereas the different 
bells rung simultaneously produce only one, and that a dis- 
cordant, sound. 

Roughly speaking, the Japanese art of cut-flower decorations 
may be classified into three fundamental principles : — 

1. Not alone the flowers and leaves, but also the stems or 
branches should be considered as part of the design — in fact, it 
is the most important part. 

2. The branches are not allowed to lean against the edge 
of the vase, as in the English manner, but must be firmly 
supported either by a wooden fixer fitted into the neck of the 
vase, or by coils of iron if open basin-shaped or flat-bottomed 
vessels are used, this giving to the stems the appearance of 
growth and self-support. 

3. Only such flowers and trees as are easily obtainable 
should be used. Earity is not considered a merit, and foreign 
or out-of-the-way plants are only permitted to be used by those 
who have a thorough knowledge of the nature of their growth, 
characteristics, &c. The flowers used should be in season, and 
the design of the decoration suited to its position in the room — 
i.e. if under a picture, on a shelf, in the centre of an alcove, 
&c. — as well as adapted to the vase which holds it. 



APPENDIX 



35S 



Although one of my objects is to show how much the 
English method may be improved without too great a sub- 
servience to the strictest hiws of the Japanese art, yet it would 
be difficult to make myself understood by the uninitiated without 
first giving an outline of that science, which was originally, it is 
supposed, a religious rite, and which to-day is still a much- 
reverenced art in Japan, For this purpose I shall quote freely 
from Mr. Conder's book, as it would be impossible to improve 





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JAPANESE ROSE (r05^ TJrOOi.,') IN A METAL VASE 



upon his lucid and concise treatment of the subject. The 
following are selected as the most important rules to be 
observed : — 

The surface ot the water in which the flowers are placed is 
technically considered to be the soil from which the floral 
growth springs, and the designer must here convey the impres- 
sion of stability and strength. 

The sprinrjinrj^ or point of origin of the floral group, is 

A A 2 



356 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 




IXO\VEn FAbI£NERS 



APPENDIX 357 

of great importance, and the firm and skilful fixing of the stems 
or branches in the vessel which holds them is one of the most 
difficult parts of the manipulation. Ordinarily, the stems are 
held in position by small cylindrical pieces of wood, fitting 
tightly across the neck of the flower vase, and having a slit, 
wider above than below, for threading them through. The 
wedge-shaped form, wider towards the top, which is given to 
the slit allows slightly different inclinations to be imparted to the 
several branches. The fastener should be fixed about half an 
inch below the surface of the water, and should not be visible 
from the front of the vessel. Some schools affect a rustic 
simplicity in their appliances, and employ a naturally forked 
twig to hold the flowers in position. For arrangements in 
neckless vases, such as sand-bowls or shallow tubs, other sorts 
of fasteners are necessary. One kind consists of a sheet of 
copper perforated with holes of different sizes, to receive the 
extremities of the different stems. Another fastener is made 
of rings or different sections of bamboo of varying diameters 
attached to a wooden board, the stems finding lodgment in the 
sockets thus formed, and being further held in position by 
pebbles being placed over them. 

The direction of the stems at starting need not be strictly 
vertical ; but, if curved, the curves should be strong ones. 

The ai'tist studiously avoids an equal-sided or symmetrical 
arrangement, but obtains a balance of a more subtle kind. 

The triple arrangement may be taken as the original model 
of all arrangements. The Principal is the central and longest 
line of the design, and is made to form a double curve, with the 
upper and lower extremities nearly vertical and in a continuous 
line, the general shape being that of an archer's bow. The 
Secondary line should be about half, and the Tertiary line 
about one quarter of the length of the Principal, supposing all 
to be straightened out ; and these two lines are arranged on 
different sides of the Principal in graceful double curves of 
varied character. As a general rule, the Secondary has a more 
vertical and the Tertiary a more lateral tendency, the former 
being on the outside of the arched bow formed by the Pr'mcipal, 
and the latter making a counterpoise on lis hollow side. By 
changing the direction and giving a different character to 
the curves of these three lines, a great variety of design is 
produced. 



Principal 




'IRILINEAL ARKANGEMEXT OF STEMS 



APPENDIX 359 

There is another stj'le of design appHed to a large class 
of flower arrangements, in which the Principal line of the 
composition has a horizontal, or almost horizontal, direction ; 
the intention of such compositions being to suggest floral growth 
on the edges of cliffs or banks, when used in hanging vessels or 
vases placed on raised shelves. 

The different lines have been spoken of as if existing in one 
vertical plane parallel to the spectator ; but actually these lines 
have also directions of varymg degrees forward or backward. 
In other words, the extreme points of these lines would require 
a solid and not a plane figure for their enclosure. 

The various directions imparted to plants and branches 
of trees on the above principles are obtained first by a careful 
selection of suitable material, then by twisting, bending, build- 
ing together and fixing at the base, and lastly by means of 
cutting and clipping off defective or superfluous parts. 

Flower arrangements are made sometimes with one species 
of tree or plant alone, and sometimes with a combination of 
two or more species. The use of many different kinds of flowers 
in one composition is opposed to the principles of the purer 
styles. 

In arranging two or more species in one composition, variety 
must be sought by combining trees and plants. In a three-line 
composition the branches of a tree should never be ' supported ' 
on both sides by a plant ; nor should a plant be placed in the 
centre with a tree arrangement on either side. The two 
branches of the same kind must of necessity be used, but they 
should adjoin, not sandwich, the remaining one. For example, 
a composition with Irises (plant) in the centre and branches 
of Azalea (tree) and CamelHa (tree) on either side would be 
defective. A correct composition would be one with a Plum 
branch (tree) in the centre, with a Pine branch (tree) on one 
side and Bamboo stem (plant) on the other. In cases of variety 
being obtained by land and water plants, this rule is sometimes 
violated. 

The manipulation of different plants and tree- cuttings with 
the object of preserving their vitality needs special study. In 
some cases merely sharply cutting the extremity is sufficient to 
preserve the succulence ; but with other material the charring 
of the end, or dipping in hot water to soften it, is common. 



36o POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

The Bamboo is particularly difllciilt to preserve. The inner 
divisions are generally removed, and the inside of the tube filled 
with spiced water or other stimulants. The object of these 
methods is to got the water to rise in the stem, so that tlie 
vitality of the bouquet may be preserved for days. Other 
means are resorted to in order to prevent the advanced blossoms 
falling off or dropping. In the case of some large and heavy 
flowers, invisible Bamboo spikes are employed to keep them 
erect. Salt is also applied at the base of certain blossoms, to 
keep the connection moist, and thus defer the shedding which 
often takes place owing to dryness. 

The flower- vases are made of wood, porcelain, pottery, 
bronze, brass, iron, and basket-work, with wooden, earthen- 
ware, or tin receptacles inside for holding the water. They 
vary as much in form as in material, the most common 
standing vessels being broad and flat, or long-necked, opening 
out to a broad flat surface at the mouth ; tall, narrow vases are 
also used. With the ordinary tall vaso, whether of wide or 
narrow mouth, the height of the flowers is generally fixed 
as cue and a half times that of the vase. In the case of broad, 
shallow receptacles, the height of the floral composition is made 
about one and a half times the breadth of the vessel. Vases for 
hooking on to walls and for suspending from a shelf or coiling 
are also frequently used. 

Having thus briefly quoted from the main principles of this 
Japanese ai't as given by Mr. Condor, I shall now make a few 
homely suggestions as to how they could be applied by any 
of us in England. 

The following practical directions may bo found useful to 
those who wish to try this system of flower arrangement at 
once with as little trouble and as little expense as possible :— 

Go round your house and collect all the china, earthenware, 
and metal vessels that can be spared — even a kettle, if nothing 
else can be found, would do. liarthenware dog-troughs are 
specially adapted to water decorations ; three-legged witch's 
cauldrons and common salt-jars also do very well ; an ordinary 
earthenware flower-pot, with the hole at the bottom corked up, 
would lend itself to wedging purposes ; and every house con- 
tains some ornamental pottery, bron/.c, brass, or silver vessels 
of a suitable kind. Glass cannot be used, as the prossiu'e of the 



APPENDIX 361 

wedge would crack it ; and for the same reason it is inadvisable 
to try to fix a wedge in fine or valuable china. 

From all these select those of a most suitable shape — i.e. 
either broad and flat for water decorations ; or narrow-necked 
with a wide mouth ; or a tall, narrow-necked shape, suitable for 
supporting only one branch without a wedge. If the vessel bo 
small, and made only of thin pottery or china, it should be 
weighted by placing stones or something heavy inside to 
balance the weight of the flower erection ; without this pre- 
caution a tall arrangement might overbalance the whole thing. 
If the vessel be heavy in itself — of bronze, brass, silver, or other 
metals, or if of earthenware, sufliciently large to become heavy 
when filled with water — then this additional weighting is not 
necessary. 

Your next step should be to procure some narrow wood — 
fire-lighting wood, or laths of any kind. Measure the width 
of the vase at the place where the wedge is to be fixed ; this 
should be slightly below the sm'face, so as to be concealed when 
the vase is filled with water. Cut two pieces of wood to the 
required length, and shape them at the end to fit the sides 
of the vase; then scoop out the inner side of each piece of wood, 
so as to form an oval-shaped opening when they are placed 
together, slightly narrower below than at the top surface, so as 
to allow the stalks a freer play of direction, at the same time 
holding them firm. Then cut out a small notch at each angle 
of the wood, at a distance of about half an inch from the ends ; 
place the two pieces together, and tie them firmly with string 
at both ends in the rut of the notches. The string should first 
be soaked, wovmd round two or three times, and firmly knotted ; 
it will then remain quite secure. "Wire is even better adapted 
to the purpose than string. 

A yet simpler way is, instead of scooping out an oval-shaped 
opening, to insert a small extra piece of wood at each end 
between the two woods that form the wedge, and, by thus 
keeping them apart, make an opening large enough for the 
width of the stems. 

When the wedge is made, soak it in water for a few seconds 
to make the wood swell ; then fix it firmly in the neck of the 
vase. 

Yet another fastener, and perhaps the most adaptable of any, 



362 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

consists simply of a spiral coil made of sheet -lead cut into 
ribbons. This can be bent about to suit the various sizes 
of the stems. The Aveight of the leaden coil will balance flowers 
and branches of considerable height, and it can always be 
additionally weighted with stones if necessary. This fastener 
may be used in almost every shaped vase, of no matter what 
material ; for there is no danger, as in the case of the fitting 
wooden fasteners, that it will crack glass or fine china. Any 
plumber will supply the strips of sheet-lead, which should be 
about 2 ft. long, | in. wide, and ^ in. thick, though the sizes 
vary, of course, according to the vase. It is quite easy to bend 
these strips into a spiral coil. 

These are simple ways of making flower-holders at home 
with the most ordinary materials ; but, of course, with more 
trouble a great variety of fasteners can be made. 

The next thing to be done is to get a branch of Bamboo or 
other thin stick, not too brittle, and cut it up into pieces of about 
an inch long, so as to have a heap of different thicknesses. 
Before proceeding to cut or buy your flowers, you must decide 
in what pai't of the room to place the decorations, so as to have 
an idea of what would be suitable as to colour, size, and form. 
If for the corner of a shelf or mantelpiece, the arrangement 
might be high on one side of the vase, with a long streamer 
pendent on the other. If for a table under a picture, it might 
tend upwards, and the Tertiary line form almost a right angle 
— in complement, as it were, to the shape of the frame when 
placed to one side underneath it. For any purpose special 
kinds of flowers are required, as it would be contrary to the 
fundamental laws of the art to try and make a stiff or upward- 
growing plant hang downwards, or to try and erect a flower 
with a limp stem. One place, too, requires a tall, narrow 
decoration ; another a wide or more solemn one. "When you 
have the destined situation of the decoration in your mind, go 
out and choose flowers and shrubs accordingly, bearing in mind 
as you pick them the directions the stems will have to take. 
It is as well always to have a basin of water ready in which to 
place the flowers immediately after picking them, as in the 
process of selection, fixing in the wedge, &c. — especially until 
you are practised in the art — the flowers are apt to wither and 
the vigour in the curves of the stems to get limp, so that it is 



APPENDIX 363 

(lillicult to carry out any design. The best plan is to place the 
vase, before filling it, where it will eventually be required to 
stand, so as to be sure and procure the suitable effect. It is 
advisable not to put water in the vessel until the composition 
is completed, as it sometimes tips over in the process of fixing 
the stems in the wedge. 

Before beginning the bouquet, make up your mind, in a 
general way, what branches and flowers to use and how to 
dispose them. Then first place the principal ones, fixing each 
firmly in turn with the bits of Bamboo if not large enough to 
fill the space, or by pruning the bottom of the stems if too thick, 
so as exactly to fit the wedge. All tree-branches and shrubs 
should have the bark peeled off the part which is imder water, 
as this allows a freer entrance to the moisture, and so enables 
the plant to last fresh for a much longer time. When you have 
finished the arrangement, stand at a little distance, and remove 
all leaves, shoots, or flowers which interfere with the clearness 
and beauty of line from various points of view. Then fill the 
vase with water— slightly tepid is best, especially if the flowers 
are at all faded. If the wedge is still visible above or through 
the water, cover it over with a little Moss or other very light 
leafage or, in the case of a water-plant decoration, with some 
small water weed. 

The diagrams showing the trilineal arrangement of stems 
are taken from Mr. Conder's book, and are in strict accordance 
with the rules of the Japanese art. The other two illustrations 
of flower decorations are photographed from life, and are merely 
casual examples of the effect produced by this system of sup- 
porting flowers by fasteners, even without conforming with any 
great precision to the laws adhered to in Japan. 

There is hardlj'^ a flower, shrub, or tree which is not, at one 
stage of growth or other, adaptable to this style of arrangement, 
but some of the most obviously suited are here mentioned by 
way of suggestion. All fruit blossoms, wild or cultivated : 
Blackthorn, May, Dog Rose, Bramble, Willow (more especially 
in bud, known as ' palm '), Maple, Oak, Rhododendron, Azalea, 
Labm-num, Wistaria, Tree Paeony, Syringa, Berberis, Laurus- 
tinus. Holly, and almost all kinds of Pine trees ; Irises, Narcissi, 
Bulrushes, Marsh Marigolds, Water Lilies, Honeysuckle, Clema- 
tis, Chrysanthemums, &c. 



364 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 

I have dwelt almost entirely upon the technical side of the 
art, this being the indispensable means to the end in view. 
But the goal is one untouched by theory, unmolested by hard- 




rrsus jAruyicA in metal vase 



and-fast rules. The wonderful beauty 01 proportion and balance, 
the choiceness of selection, the effect of growth and vitality, of 
dignity and grace, with which the whole of this art is pene- 
trated, are not to be expressed in any doctrinal terms. The 



APPENDIX 365 

tender solicitude which it exacts for the habits and character- 
istics, tastes and welfare of each plant, endows the least thing 
utilised by this art with almost a personality. The relative con- 
nection of one plant with another — the tall, aspiring Principal ; 
the Secondary, which seems inclined to follow its lead, yet 
hesitates half-way with questioning doubt; the Tertiary below, 
in squat contentment — these admit of endless variety of inter- 
pretation. To the Japanese every flower has its meaning and 
associations, as well as every combination of flowers. The force 
of contrast is ever present in thoir designs ; the opposite sexes 
are supposed to be represented, strength and weakness, stern- 
ness and tenderness, &c. Without learning the grammar of 
their complicated flower-language, might we not nevertheless 
increase our artistic pleasure in flower arrangements by trying 
to give them a suitableness and a meaning which they have 
hitherto lacked ? The old, long established English fashion of 
massing together in a vase may still hold its own for certain 
kinds of flowers ; but, so strong is the fascination of the Japanese 
principle, that, once it is adopted, it will probably assert its 
authority even amongst a bunch of Primroses or Violets. 

Constance Lytton. 



INDEX 



Ani-:r.iA rupcstris, 45 
Abstinence in relation to health, 

270 
Acanthus, 120 
Aconite, 17 

Acorns for decorating, 13 
JEsculus iJarvifolia, 144 
Agapantlms, 50, 114 
Alliums, 102 
Allotment system, 243 
Aloes, Cape, 182 
Alousoa linifolia, 1(54 

— Warsceioiczii, 164 
Aloysia citriodora, 45, 99 
Alpines, 76, 88, 239 
Alstroemerias, 132, 133 
Alyssum, yellow, 103 
Alyssums, 140 
Amaranthus caudafns, 113 
Amaryllis, 11, 12, 74 

— belladonna, 161, 162 
Amateur artists, 307-316 
Amateurs, ambition of, 250 
America, late springs and early 

heat in, 200 
Ampelopsis veitchii, 157, 158, 

194, 195 
Andrews, H., works of, 68, 69 
Aneynone apennina, 101 
Anemones, 72, 184 
Animal food, a warning against, 

304 
Anne, Queen, and her laws 

against Catholics, and Horace 

Walpole'a designation of her, 

59 



Annuals, time for sowing, 42, 86, 
87, 132; selection of, 164 

Anthemis Hnctoria, 143 

Antirrhinums, 134, 135 

Aponogeto7i, 141 

Apple-tart, with peach-leaves, 177 

Apple-trees on turf, 169 

Apples, how to keep, 103; wini- 
falls of, 184 

Arbutus, 84 

Aristolochia, 95 

Art for girls, 310, 311 ; first 
lessons, 311, 312; defects of 
schools, 312 ; an opening for 
teachers of water-colour sketch- 
ing, 312 ; beginners to per- 
severe, 313, 314 ; suggestions 
for getting over ditiiculties, 
314, 315 ; water-colour drawing 
more suitable for amateurs 
than painting in oils, 315, 316 

Art in the house, 277- 2H0 

Artemisia abrotanum, 94 

Artichokes, Jerusalem, cooking, 
203 

Arums, 16, 39, 72 ; often mis- 
called 'lilies,' 74 

Arundo donax, 119, 120 

Asparagus, time for planting and 
treatment of, 40, 41 ; method 
of boiling, 98 

Asparagus plumosa, 39 

Aspidistras, treatment of, 8 

Astrantias, 128, 129 

Athletics, excessive addiction to, 
271 



368 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



Aubrietias, 140 

Aucubas, 10, 60 

Auriculas, 140 

Autumn, list of trees, creepers, 

shrubs, and plants for, 190, 

191 

— annuals, 86, 87, 132 

— morning, an, 179, 188, 189 
Azaleas, 17, 72, 138, 169 



Bacox, Lord, on gardening, 224 

Bad temper in children, treat- 
ment of, 327 

Bags for dried leaves, 8 

Balsam, 160 

Bamboos, leaves of, for table- 
decoration, 13 ; growing, 119, 
139, 195, 201; book on, 246 

Banksia, yellow, 43 

Barberry, common, 38, 39 

' Barnacle Geese,' superstition of, 
57, 58 

Dartonia aurea, time for sowing, 
42, 164 

Baskets, plants for, 163, 164 

Bath-rooms, 285 

Bay-tree, 169 

Beans, preserving, 153, 203 ; 
succession of, 174 ; cooking, 
176 

Bechamel sauce, 25 ; receipt for 
preparing, 31, 32 

Bedding-out system, introduction 
of, 5 ; objections to, 4S, 49, 
225 

Bedford, Duke of, and his gar- 
dener, anecdote of, 227, 228 

Bedrooms, furnishing, 284, 285, 
286 

Beds in a garden, arrangement 
of, 106 

Beech-trees in autumn, 205 

Beetroot, preparing and serving, 
25 

Bell-flower, 160 

Bcrbcris Darioinii, 97, 169 

— vulgaris, 38, 39, 96, 1H9 

Bible, the, Martin's illustrations 
of, 157 

Biennials, 42, 113, 164, 165 



Bignonia radicans, 43, 104 

Birds, feeding, 18 ; boxes for 
117, 118 

Biscuits, change of, 192 

B16 de Turquie, 55 

Blinds, 282 

Blue-bells, 197 

Bocconia cordata, 61, 119, 139, 
199 

Boltonia corymbosa, 173 

Bonaparte, Josephine, and her 
fondness for gardening, 207, 
208 

Bookcases, 278, 284, 285 

Books on gardening, botany, &c. : 
Eobinson's ' English Flower 
Garden,' 1, ct passim ; ' The 
Vegetable Garden,' 1, 13 ; John- 
son's ' Gardener's Dictionary,' 
1, 2; Andrews' 'Botanist's 
Eepository,' 20; Mrs. Loudon's 
' Gardening for Ladies,' 23 ; 
Bright' s ' A Year in a Lanca- 
shire Garden,' 48, 49, 239 ; 
Watson's ' Flowers and Gar- 
dens,' 48, 235-238; Curtis's 
' Botanical Magazine,' 49, 62 ; 
'Hortus Floridus' (1614), 50, 
51; Parkinson's 'Paradisi in 
Sole,' (1629), 51-54; Parkin- 
son's ' Theatre of Plants ' 
(1640), 54-56 ; Gerarde's ' The 
Herbal or General Historic of 
Plants' (1033), 56-58; gar- 
dener's Almanack for 1691, 
58, 59 ; De laQuintinye's ' The 
Compleat Gard'ner ' (1693), 
59; 'English Herbal,' by 
W.Salmon (1710), 59; Brad- 
ley's ' New Improvements of 
Planting and Gardening ' 
(1739), 59, 60; Dillenio's 
'Hortus Elthamensis' (1732), 
00 ; ' Uitgezochte Planten ' 
(1771), 60,' 61 ; Curtis' 'Flora 
Londinensis' (1771), 61 ; Eras- 
mus Darwin's ' The Loves of 
the Plants' (1791), 62, 63, 
124 ; Jacquin's ' Miscellanea 
Austriaca ' (1778), 63-65 ; Jac- 
quin's ' Oxalis Monographia ' 



INDEX 



369 



and ' Plantarum Rariorum 
Horti Cffisarei Schoenbrunnen- 
sis,' 66, 67; Martin's 'Thirty- 
eight Plates with Explanations ' 
(1794), 67 ; Stoever's ' Life of 
Sir Charles Linnasus,' 67, 68 ; 
Andrews' ' Botanist's Eeposi- 
tory' (1797), 68, 69; White's 
' Natural History of Selborne,' 
145, 146; Ventenat's 'Le 
Jardin de la Malmaison,' 207, 
208 ; ' La Botanique de J. J. 
Eousseau,' 208-210 ; ' Les 
Eoses,' by Eedoute and Thorry, 
209 ; Smith's ' Exotic Botany,' 

210, 211 ; Nicol's ' Gardener's 
Kalendar,' 211 ; Thornton's 
'Small Family Herbal,' 211 
Hill's 'Family Herbal,' 211 

' The New Botanic Garden, 

211, 212; Maund's 'Botanic 
Garden,' 212, 213 ;Chaumeton's 
'Flore M6dicale,' 213, 214; 
Greene's ' Universal Herbal,' 
214-216 ; ' The Manse Garden,' 
216 ; Sweet's ' Cistineffi : the 
Natural Order of Rock Rose,' 
216, 217 ; Loudon's ' Gardener's 
Magazine,' 217, 218 ; Loudon's 
'Arboretum Botanicum,' 218, 
219 ; Mrs. Loudon's ' Ladies' 
Magazine of Gardening,' 219 ; 
' Lady's Companion,' 219, 220 ; 
' Every Lady her own Flower 
Gardener,' 220 ; ' M6moires du 
Musee d'Histoire naturelle,' 
221 ; ' M6moires sur quelques 
Esp^ces de Cact^es,' 221 ; John- 
son's 'History of English 
Gardening,' 222 ; Felton's ' On 
the Portraits of English Authors 
on Gardening,' 223; 'The 
Florist's Journal and Garden- 
ing Record,' 223 ; Paxton's 
' Magazine of Botany,' 223- 
225 ; Culpepper's ' Complete 
Herbal,' 225, 226 ; ' Language 
of Flowers,' 227; Herbert's 
' Amaryllidaceffi,' 227 ; ' Pine- 
tum Woburnensis,' 227, 228 ; 
Mott's 'Flora Odorata,' 228, 



229; Pratt's 'Flowers and 
their Associations ' and ' Field, 
Garden, and Woodland,' 229 ; 
Paul's 'The Rose Garden, 
229 ; Newman's ' History of 
British Ferns,' 229 ; Williams' 
'Ferns and Lycopods,' 229 ; 
Hibberd's 'Profitable Garden- 
ing,' 230; Deakin's 'Flora of 
the Colosseum of Rome,' 230 ; 
Stone's ' Beautiful - leaved 
Plants,' 230 ; Robinson's ' Parks, 
Promenades, and Gardens of 
Paris,' ' Subtropical Garden,' 
and ' Alpine Flowers for English 
Gardens,' 231, 232 ; Robinson's 
'Wild Garden,' 232, 233; 
Vilmorin-Andrieux's ' Vege- 
table Garden,' 233 ; sixth 
edition of 'English Flower 
Garden,' 233 ; ' God's Acre 
Beautiful,' 233, 234 ; Robinson's 
' Garden Design ' and ' Archi- 
tects' Gardens,' 235 ; Smee's 
' My Garden : its Plan and 
Culture,' 238 ; Wooster's ' Al- 
pine Plants,' 238 ; Hazlitt's 
' Gleanings f i-om Old Garden 
Literature,' 239; Hope's 'Notes 
and Thoughts on Gardens and 
Woodlands,' 239, 240 ; Wood's 
' Hardy Perennials,' 240 ; 
' Days and Hours in a Garden,' 
240, 241; Ellwanger's 'The 
Garden's Story,' 241. 242 ; 
Sachs' ' History of Botany,' 
242 ; Rivers' ' Miniature Fruit 
Garden,' 242 ; Piggott's ' Gar- 
den of Japan,' 242 ; Hole's 
'Book about the Garden and 
the Gardener,' 242, 243; Piatt's 
'Italian Gardens,' 243, 244; 
Von Marilauu's ' Natural His- 
tory of Plants,' 244 ; Ellacombe's 
' In a Gloucestershire Garden,' 
245 ; Grant Allen's ' Story of 
the Plants,' 245 ; Mitford's 
' Bambo Garden,' 246 ; Misa 
Amherst's ' History of Garden- 
ing in England,' 246 ; Karr's 
' Voyage autour de mon Jardin,' 
B B 



370 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



247 ; Sieveking's ' Praise of 
Gardens,' 247 ; Austin's ' The 
Garden that I Love,' 247; 
' Gardens and Garden Craft ' 
(' Edinburgh Eeview '), 247 ; 
papers in ' Journal of the Eoyal 
Horticultural Society,' 247, 
248 ; ' The Garden ' (periodical), 
235 ; ' Cottage Gardening ' 
(periodical), 234, 248 ; Mr. J. 
Conder's' The Flowers of Japan 
and the Art of Floral Arrange- 
ment,' Appendix, 353 

Books on treatment in sickness, 
food, nursing, &c., 304, 305 

Borders, garden, 92, 134, 151, 
152, 181, 183, 196 

Botany, works on, see Books on 
gardening and botany 

Bottling gooseberries, 109 

Bouvardias, 162 

Box, common, 38, 169 

Boys, training of, 257-275 

' Breakfast ' parties, 196 

Bright's ' A Year in a Lancashire 
Garden,' 48, 49 

Brooms, 117 

Browning, Mrs., anecdote of, 344 

Brussels sprouts, 41 

Buddleia glohosa, 45, 84, 169 

Bulbs, forcing, 23 ; market for, 
72 ; selection of, 102, 131 ; 
method of growing, 105 ; 
potting, 123, 181 _ 

Buphthalmum cordifolium, 136 

' Burning bush,' 118 

Buttercup, water, 89 

Cabbage, red, pickled, 176 
Cactuses, 120, 121, 221 
Cakes, receipts for, 81, 82, 187 
Calceolaria amplexicaulis, 114 
Calceolarias for window-boxes, 

201 
Calvary clover, 42 
Calycanthus prcecox, 43 
Camellia, 229 
Campanula garganica, 164 

— grandis, 125 

— medium 113 



Campanula persicifolia, 113, 124 

— pyramidalis, 113 

— ranunculus, 160 

— turMnata, 132 
Canary-seed on moss, growing, 

12, 13 
Candour in children, inculcation 

of, 261 
Candytuft, 83 

Caneton al'orange, receipt for, 79 
Cannabis saliva, lb, 165 
Cannas, 50 

Canterbury bells, 113, 125 
Cape flowering bulbs, 12, 19, 181 

— type-plant, 20 

Cardoons, how to cook, 14; 
Chaumeton on, 213, 214 

Carnations, in hanging pots, 98 
112; treatment of, 136; 138 
replanting, 165, 166, 184 

Carpets, use of, 279, 281 

Carriage-drives to houses, 170 

Carrots, cooking, 175, 176, 187 

Cauliflower, serving, 126 

Ceanotluis caruleus, 45 

— grancliflorus {Gloire de Ver- 
sailles), 44 

Celeriac, 14 

C^leris en branches, demi-glaces, 
receipt for, 37 

Celery, with beetroot, 25 ; pre- 
paration of, 37 

Cercis, 45 

Cherries, double, pruning, 117 ; 
Morella, 175 ; winter, 10 

Cherry brandy, 175 

Chervil, 82, 97 

Chestnuts, Spanish, 6 ; dwarf 
horse, 144 ; cooking, 182 

Chickens, cooking, 174 ; stewed, 
186 ; served cold, 254, 255 

Chicory, leaves of the, 95 

Children, training of, 257-275, 
318-352; feeding of, 270; their 
life at the beginning of the 
century, 273 ; decorating their 
own rooms, 287 ; their 
health, 302 ; capability for 
suffering, 319 ; bad temper, 
327 ; their attentions to the 
old, 346 



INDEX 



371 



Chimonanthus fragrans, 11, 19, 
43, 158 

China-roses, 4 

Chive-tops, 97 

Chloroform, use of, 296 

Choisya ternata, 18, 19, 43, 169 ; 
pruning, 117 

Chorozemia, 11 

Chrysanthemums, for table de- 
coration, 13; replanting, 74, 
132, 143 ; arrangement, 190 

Chutney, receipt for, 126 

Cineraria eruenta, 20 

Cinerarias, 11, 20 

Cistuses, 84, 216 

Cleanliness in the house, 281 

Clematis, 43, 95, 118, 139 

Clematis montana, 43, 117 

Clethra, 93, 113, 144 

Cocos weddeliana, 9 

Coffee, making, 15, 16 

Colchicums, 180 

Colllnsonia, 63 

Colosseum of Eome, plants and 
flowers of the, 230 

Colour-blindness, 162 

Columbines. 169 

Compotes, 120, 127, 175, 186, 
254 

Consomm^, 28, 29 

— aux ailerons, 30 
Convalescence, 300, 302 

' Convent eggs,' receipt for, 108 
Convolvitlus 7iiauritanicus, 164 
Cooking, book on, 2 ; in France, 
78, 80 ; mistakes in English, 
81. (See also uiider the names 
of various dishes) 
Cweopsis grandiflora, 136 

— lanceolata, 134 
Cotoneasters, 44, 169 

Cotton, rosemary-leaved lavender, 
210 

— plant, and the myth of the 
' vegetable lamb,' 53 

Crab, mayonnaise souffle of, 125 
Crab apple, Siberian, 92, 99; prun- 
ing, 117 ; preserving, 176, 177 
Cranberries, American, how to 
cook, 14, 15 

— Norwegian, 15 



Cratceguspyracantha Imlandi, 44 
Creepers for house-fronts, &c., 

43-46, 157 ; for autumn, 190, 

191 
Cremation, 233, 234 
Cr^me brul6e pudding, 77 
Crocuses, 179, 180, 197 
Cross, floral, 20 
Crown Imperials, 71 
Cryptomeria japonica, 163, 201 
Cucumber, serving, 126; cooking, 

126 
Currant bushes, protection of, 

129 
Currant jelly, red, 129 
Curry, making, 108 

— of ham toast, 109 ; of 
duck and fish, 251, 252 

— powder, receipt for, 108 
Curtains, 282, 286 

Curtis's ' Flora Londinensis ' and 
'Botanical Magazine,' 49, 61, 62 

Cut-flower decoration, 10 and 
notp, 12, 13, 75, 106, 138 ; list 
of flowers, &c., for, 192, 193 ; 
Appendix, 353-365 

Cyclamens, 17, 24 

Cydonia, 44 



Daffodils, 17, 72 

' Dainty Dishes,' 2 et passim 

Daisies, Michaelmas, 74, 75, 114, 
132, 143, 173, 205 

Dante, and Voltaire's cynical re- 
mark, 206 

Daphne Cneorum, 97 

Darwin, Erasmus, and ' vege- 
table lamb,' 53 ; and ' The 
Loves of the Plants,' 62, 63, 
124 

Daturas, 169, 180 

Daughters, education and train- 
ing of, 317-352 

Decorating house and tables, 10- 
13, 75, 106, 138 ; list of flowers 
for, 192, 193 ; Appendix, 853- 
365 

Delphiniums, 134 

D'Epinay, Madame, her views on 
woman's education, 328 

BB 2 



372 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



Desmodium penduUflorum, 92 
Deutzia crenata, 106 

— elegans, 96 

— gracilis, 10 
Diosma shrubs, 181, 182 
Double flowers compared with 

single, 237 
Draperies for rooms, 283, 284 
Dress, 840-342 
Dried fruit, cooking, 256 

— leaves, scented, 8 

Drugs, danger of excess in the 

use of, 803, 804 
Dual nature, the, in women, 845, 

346 
Duck, boiled, receipt for, 79, 80 ; 

minced and curried, 251, 252 
Dutch garden for a lawn, 139, 

140, 141 



Eakly rising, 349 

Echeveria rettisa, 12 

Edinburgh, National Gallery of, 
156, 157 

Education, of boys, 259-262 ; of 
girls, 317, 319-882 

Eggs, receipt for cooking, 108 

Elder, 153 

Ehot, George, on nursing the 
sick, 297, 298 

Entertainments, social, 350 

Epilohinm, 75 

Epimediums, 99 

Erigeron speciosus, 143 

Eschscholtzias, 165 

Eucalyptus, 16 

Eulalias, 119 

Evergreens, Mme. de Stael's de- 
scription of, 19 ; climbing, 43 ; 
in pots, 115 ; to be avoided in 
London, 194 

Everlasting flowers, 7, 182 

Exochorda grandiflora, 93 

Extravagant wives, 839 



Fads, avoidance of, in training 

children, 259 
Fasteners for flowers, Appendix, 

357, 362 



Feeding of children, 270 
Ferns for London gardens, 198 
Fertilisation of plants, 63 
Ficris elastica, 8, 9 

— elastica indica, 8, 9 
Fig-trees, 196 

Finger-bowls, flowers in, 192 
Fireplaces, 279, 280 

Fish, cooking, 41,42 ; marinaded, 
82 ; decline in consumption 
after the Eeformation, 147, 
148 

Fishermen taking to piracy after 
the Eeformation, 148 

Flax, blue, 75 

Floor, painted, 281, 284 ; cover- 
ings for, 279, 281, 284 

' Flora Londinensis,' Curtis's, 
61 

Flower fasteners. Appendix, 357, 
362 

Flowers, packing, 107 

Foam-flower, 103 

Fog in the country, 188 

Food and health, 804, 305 

Forcemeat, receipt for, 33, 84 

Forget-me-nots, 89, 140, 184, 198 

Forsythia fortunci, 44, 70, 196 

— siispensa, 43, 70, 196 
Fountains, 92, 140, 141 
Foxgloves, 170 
Freesias, 12, 17, 123 

French country-house, a, house- 
keeping in, 78 

— novels, recommended for 
mothers, 262 

— pie, 80 

— receipts for soups, sauces, 
poultry, jellies, &c., 28-37, 
79-82 

Friendships, early, 274, 385, 336 

Fritillarias, 105 

Frost, on window-panes, 21, 22 ; 

methods for keeping out, 99, 

198, 189 
Fruit, increase in its cultivation, 

242 ; dried, and how to cook 

it, 256 ; bavarois of, 256 
Fuchsia pirocumhens, 163, 164 
Fuchsias, 112 
Fumitory, 161 



INDEX 



373 



Furnishing and managing houses, 
276-288 ; books on the subject, 
276, 277 ; ' Lectures ' and 
views of W. Morris, 277-281 ; 
the rule of simplicity, 278 ; 
fireplaces and tiled hearths, 
279, 280 ; pianos, 280 ; the use 
of Sanitas, 280 ; cleanliness, 
281 ; second-hand goods, 281, 
282 ; blinds and curtains, 282 ; 
whitewashed and draped walls, 
283, 284; bookcases, 284; 
articles for bedrooms, 284, 
285 ; baths, 285 ; bedding, 286 ; 
pictures, 287; children's tastes, 
287 ; tables, 287, 288 



Gaillaedias, 134, 186 

Gainsborough, portrait of Mrs. 
Grahame by, 156 

Garden, an old-fashioned, 4, 5, 
236 ; plan of author's, 87-93; 
planning and laying out a 
small, 106, 141, 142, 169; 
taking notes of a, 137 

Gardening, in winter, 17-19 ; as 
an employment for women, 40 ; 
advance of knowledge on, 60 ; 
love and watchfulness in, 75 ; 
in France, 83, 84 ; monastic, 
147, 149 ; in the north of Eng- 
land and Scotland, 151-153, 
157, 158 ; topiary, 159 ; wild, 
170, 171, 232, 233 ; in London, 
194-201 ; an occupation for 
the elderly, 245 

Garlic, use of, 251 

Garrya elliptica, 43 

Gascony butter, 108 

Generosity and its counterfeit, 
266 

Gentians, 76 

Geranium, sweet, leaves of, 8 ; 
placed on water, 11 : grown in 
pots, lis 

Geraniums, double red, for table- 
decoration, 13 ; in hanging 
pots, 98; grown in pots. 111, 
112 ; planting out, 120, 121 ; 
ivy-leaved, 164 ; for London, 198 



Gerarde's ' The Herbal or General 

Historic of Plants,' 56-58 
' Giant ' cultivation, 41 
Gilbert, Mr., sculpture by, 291 
Girls, as amateur artists, 307- 
316 ; increase in their educa- 
tional advantages, 309 ; their 
education, 317-332 ; thinking 
about marriage, 327-330 ; their 
liberty and independence, 330; 
higher education, 331, 332 ; 
what they should read, 332, 
333 ; allowances for, 338, 339 ; 
their dress, 340, 342 
Gladioli, 69 

Gloriosa S7iperba, 123, 124 
Gloucester, Duke of, and the 

Lady Anne, picture of, 293 
Gnocchi a la creme, 30, 31 
Gold-fish in garden tanks, 141 
Gooseberries, bottled, 109 ; in 

Scotland, 152 
Gourds, 7, 8 

Governesses, training of, 819, 320 
Grahame, Mrs., Gainsborough's 

portrait of, 156 
Grasses, Japanese, 93 
Greenhouse, plants for, 7, 25, 72, 
73, 123, 124, 163, 165, 173, 181 
Gypsophila paniculaia, 136 
— gracilis, time for sowing 
42, 94, 184 



Ham toast, curry of, 109 
Hampton Court Palace, the 

creeper on the turrets of, 168 
Handwriting, good, importance 

of, 331 
Hare, roast, German receipt for 

82 
Haricot of mutton, 252 
Haricot blanc, 185 
Hashed mutton, 251 
Health question, the, in the 

training of children, 258, 270 ; 

books on, 304, 305 
Heaths 69 

Hehant'hemums, 84, 216, 217 
Helianthuses, 50 
Helichrysum bracteatum, 7 



374 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



Hellebore, 50 

Hemp plant, 75, 105 

Hepaticas, 77 

' Herbal or General Historie of 
Plants, The,' (lerarde's, 50-58 

Herbs, Kcieneo of, in past and 
present times, 5(5, 01 

Tlcitchera sanguinea, 73, 109 

Higher education of women, 331, 
332 

Holland House Gardens, 199 

Holly, for table decoration, 13 ; 
berries of, 204 

Hollyhocks, 103 

Home-life, and the training of 
children, 25!) ; and furnishing, 
decorating, and domestic 
management, 270-2HB ; pro- 
fessional nursing a cause of its 
deterioration, 2%, 297 

Honesty, s(;ed-ves8els of, 7 

Honeysuckle, 4 ; Dutch, 43, 93 ; 
pruning, 117, 139 

' Hortus i'loridus,' 50, 51 

Hospitals vcrsKs home-nursing, 
298 

House-fronts, creepers for, 43-46 

Housekeepers, advice to, on 
liospitality, 255 ; hints to, 
347, 318 

Houses, fittings and furniture for, 
270-288 

Housewives, a book for, 277 

Hiimea elcqana, 103 

Hyacinths," 11, 23, 72, 197 

Hydrangea jxiniculata grandi- 
flora, 131, 199 

Hydrangeas, 114 

IiiKitis gibraUarira, 83 

Ic(4)ergs, and their effect on tem- 
perature, 198 

Iniantophilums, 25, 20, 73 

Itn.patien!i glandulifera, 161 

Independence, habits of, impor- 
tance of training children in, 
258, 259 ; of young women, 
330, 33(i, 337 

In<lia-rubl)(!r plants, 8 

Indian corn, and its cultivation 
by Red Indiana, 55, 50 



Iris, 25, 140 , Japanese, 89 ; 
German, 100, 105, 197 ; Span- 
ish, 135, 184, 197; English, 
135 

Irishman, the, and his trans- 
formed cottage, 94 

Italy, gardens in, 243, 244 

Ivy, common, potting and train- 
ing for indoor 2)urposes, 8 ; 
on house-fronts, 42 ; Japanese, 
158 

Ixias, 69 



Jackmani, 119 

Jacquin, N. J., life and botanical 

works of, 03-07 
Jam, rhubarb, 90 ; strawberry, 

120; crab, 170, 177; quince, 

184 
' Janet's Repentance,' quotation 

on nursing the sick from, 297, 

298 
Japan, chrysanthemum shows in, 

189 ; gardens in, 242 
Japanese art of arranging cut 

flowers. Appendix, 353-305 
— vases, 10 and note, 201 ; 

Appendix, 300 
Jasmine, yellow, 44; white, 104, 

190 
Jasininum nudiflorum, 11, 19, 

43, 158, 190 
Jekyll, Miss, papers on a Surrey 

garden by, 250, 251 
Jews-mallow, 95 
Jonquils, 17 ; forcing, 23 
Judas tree, 45 

Juggler, mental training of a, 4 
Julierme soup, 29, 30 



K KM J- 1- Kit/, 89 

Kerrias, 95, 119 

Kitchen, the, management of, 

78 
Kitchen garden, 80, 135 



LAnuKNOMH, pruning, 117 
Lachcnalia aurea, 19, 182 



INDEX 



375 



Lamb-plant, the, myth of, 52, 53 

Lancaster, its general appearance 
and canal, l/iU 

Lard, a substitute for, 78 

Laurels, 19, KJ?, 180 

Lavender, 8, 101 

Lawns, objections to, 138 ; break- 
ing up, 13H, 13',), 142, UV.) 

Leaves, dried, for perfuming 
rooms, 8 

Leighton, Lord, last work by, 292 

Leonotis leonwrus, 182 

L'ipi'.e dc la Vierge, 131 

' Leper's Wife, the,' picture of, 
293, 294 

Letters, prompt answers to, 331 

Lettuce, 37, 97 

Leucojiom vcrnimi, 24 

Leycesfcria fornwsa, 119 

Liberalism defined, 140 

Libraries, gardening, for villages, 
248 

Lilac Daphne, 39 

Lilacs, 100; pruning, 117 

Liiium anratam, 103 

— candid I tin, 130 

— chalcedunicwn, 200 

Lily, St. ]5runo's, 9 ; creeping, 

123, 124 ; Madonna, 130, 184 ; 

of the valley, 133, 200 ; water, 

141 
Limnanthca Douglasii, 104, 184 
Linarias, 75 

Lind, Jenny, anecdote of, 154 
Linnu.'us, 00 ; his ' Life ' and 

works, 07, 08 
Linnea burcalis, 09 
Linums, 74 

Lobelia, 142, 143, 188, 198 
London, gardening in, 194-201 ; 

a day in, 289-295 

— Pride, 100, 109, 187, 188, 198 
Loudon, Mrs., story of her 

marriage, and her works, 218- 
221 

— J. C, works of, 217-219 
Love-in-tVie-mist, time for sow- 
ing, 42, 184 ; 03, 94, 95 

Love-lies-bleeding, 113 
' Loves of the I'lants, The,' 
Darwin's, 02, 03, 124 



Luncheon dishes : mayonnaise 
sourfl6 of crab, 125 ; tomatoes 
with mayonnaise sauce, &c., 
125 



Maciik, 24, 25 

Magnolia conspicua, 44, 171, 190 

— grandijlora, 12, 43, 190 

— purpurea, 44 

— sleilata, 44, 171 
Maigre dishes, 80, 81 

Maize, and its cultivation by Red 

Indians, 55, 50 
Manure, 11, 17, 18, 41, 144 
Marguerites, French, 112, 201 
Marigolds, 132, 188, 189, 198, 205 
Marmalade, orange, making, 27 
Marriage, preparation for, 327 

330 
Marriages, poor, 273, 274 
Martin's illustrations of the 

Bible, 157 
Marvels of Peru, 50 
Mayonnaise sauce, 25 
Mcconopsis, 128 
Megascas, 109, 184 
Melon compote, 180 
Mesembryantheraums, 104 
Mczereum, 39 
Mignonette, time for sowing, 42, 

105; 197 
Mill, J. S., on education, 335 
Mint, 98 
Model, artist's, in the Academy, 

294, 295 
Money, the value of, importance 

of teaching boys, 203-200 
Montbretias, 112 
Moral faults, lenient views of, 

351, 352 
Morley, Mr. John, on excessive 

addiction to pleasure and sport, 

271 ; on success, 272 ; on 

popular culture, 325 
Morris, W., his ' Lectures on Art ' 

and ideas on house-furnishing 

277-280 
Mothers, tact of, 269, 322 ; their 

ignorance of their children. 

318 ; hints to, 321-324, 333 



376 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



Mousse de foies gras a la gel6e, 

receipt for, 36 
— de volaille, receipt for, 34 
Mulberries, 139 
Museums, private, advantages of, 

155 
Music as a sociable hobby, 310 
Musk, 165 
Mutton, hashed, 251 ; haricot of, 

252 
Myrtles, 112, 114 
Myth, of the ' vegetable lamb,' 

52, 53 ; of the ' Barnacle 

Geese,' 57, 58 

Narcissus, 16 ; forcing, 23, 72 

Narcissus j'oeticus, 105 

Nasturtiums, 46, 198 

National Gallery of Edinburgh, 

156, 157 
Natural History of Selborne,' 
145, 146 

Nerines, 181 

Nettles, preparing and cooking, 26 

Nicotiana, 50 

Nitrate of soda, usefulness of, 173 

North, Miss, flower-painting of, 
244 

Norway, plants in, 153; compared 
with Scotland, 156 

Nouilles fraiches, receipt for, 
36,37 

Novel-reading for girls, 333 

Novels, French, recommended 
for mothers, 262 

Nursery, the, making up, 74, 75 

Nurses, sick : their dilhcult posi- 
tion as servants of the doctor, 
298 ; their hard life, 299, 300 ; 
discretion required in selecting 
them, 300; temptations to 
which they are exposed, 301 ; 
hardening effect of their train- 
ing, 301 ; in France, 301 

Nursing the sick, 296-302 

Oaks, 6 

Old-fashioned garden, an, 4, 5, 

236 
Old maid, French, visit to a, 83 



Old times compared with the pre- 
sent, 145, 146, 273 

Oleanders, 112, 113 

Omphalodes verna, 71 

Onions, 97, 98 

Ophiopogon spicatus, 173 

Orange, mock, 45 

— compote, 254 

Orchid-growing on a small scale, 
249, 288 

OrniiJwgalum, 72, 131 

Ox-tail soup, 80, 81 

Oxalises, 66, 215 



Packing cut-flowers, 107 
Painting, effect of the Eeforma- 

tion on, 149, 150 
Pampas grass, 16 
Pandanus vciichii, 9 
Pansies, 198 
'Paradisi in Sole,' Parkinson's, 

51-54 
Parents, influence of, 259, 260, 

262, 268, 269, 333, 346 ; ignor- 
ance regarding their children, 

318 
Parkinson's ' Paradisi in Sole,' 

51-54 ; ' Theatre of Plants,' 

54-56 
Parnassia, 63 

Parsley, decorating with, 82 
Parsnip, giant, 120 
Partridge, stewed, 186 
Paste, making, for French and 

other dishes, 30-33 
Pastry, preparing and baking, 27 
Pate a Ravioli, receipt for, 32 
Paul, Mrs. Kegan, article on 

' Paradisi in Sole ' by, 53, 54 
Pavia, 144 
Paxton, Sir Joseph, his influence 

on English gardening, 224, 225 
Peas, green, for pur6e, 25 ; stewed, 

129 • late 174 
Pelarg'oniuras, 20, 21, 69, 120 
Percolators for making coffee, 15, 

16 
Perennials, time for sowing, 134 

watering, 143 
Pergolas, 45, 95, 



INDEX 



377 



Periwinkles, 169 

Phalangium liliago variec/atum, 
9 

Pheasant, stewed, 186 

Philaddiihufi grandifiorus, 45 

Philanthropy, amateur, to be 
discouraged, 308, 309 

Phloxes, 74, 75, 132, 143 

Physalis Alkekengi, 10 

Pianos, 279, 280 

Pictures, in houses, 278, 279, 
287 ; in the Royal Academy, 
292-294 

Pie, French, 80 

Pig lilies, 74 

Pigeons, cooking, 174, 175 ; 
flight of, 206 

Pilea muscosa, 163 

Pinks, 140, 143, 184, 198 

Piptanthus nepalensis, 45 

Piracy, increase of, after the 
Reformation, 147, 148 

Pleasure, excessive addiction to, 
271 

Plum, double, 10 

Plmnbago larpcnta, 161 

Poems quoted or alluded to : 
' I remember, I remember,' 5 ; 
' Go where the water glideth,' 
&c., by J. H. Reynolds, 5, 6 ; 
Shelley's description of damp, 
17 ; lines on the death of a 
young girl, 20; 'John Frost,' 
21, 22; ' The Poet in the City,' 
46, 47 ; Erasmus Darwin on 
the ' vegetable lamb,' 53 ; 
Darwin's ' Loves of the Plants,' 
62, 63; Owen Meredith's de- 
scription of a garden in spring, 
85 ; ' Baby Seed Song,' 87 ; 
Mrs. Hemans' ' To the Blue 
Anemone,' 101, 102 ; Paul 
Verlaine's 'La Vie,' 133, 134 ; 
Emerson's lines on shells, 
155 ; lines to the redbreast, 
178, 179 ; Milton on the rising 
sun, 188 ; Keats' ' St. Agnes' 
Eve,' 189 ; ' La M^lancolie,' 
206, 207 ; Mr. Ruskin's ' Mont 
Blanc revisited,' 231 ; Matthew 
Arnold's Obermann Poems, 



232 ; memorial poem by Sir 
Henry Taylor, 268 ; James 
Si^edding's 'Antiquity of Man,' 
274, 275 ; Mr. Lionel Tenny- 
son's 'Sympathy,' 306; 'Omar 
Khayyam,' 352 

Polyanthus, 164 

Polygomim affinc, 161 

— cmpidatum, 92, 119, 199, 205 

— sacchalificnsc, 119, 199 
Pomegranate, double, 112 
Pond-weed, 141 

Ponds, natural, 171 

Poppies, Oriental, 5 ; time for 

sowing, 42 ; for decoration, 

106; Plume, 119; Welsh, 128, 

160 
Portraits in the Royal Academy, 

292 
Pot au feu soup, 28 
Pot-pourri, a receipt for, 241, 242 
Potage paysanne, receipt for, 79 
Potatoes, cooking, 13, 98, 252 

253 
Pots, plants in, and evaporation, 

98 ; hanging, 98 ; growing 

plants in, 110-115 
Poultry, preparing and roasting, 

78, 79 
Primroses, 140, 164, 199 
Prirmda japonica, 89 

— sieboldii, 72 

— sinensis, 11 

Primulas, for table decoration, 
13 ; Chinese, 24 ; Japanese, 89 

Privet, 169, 195 

Procosma variegata, 114 

Proteas, 68 

Protection for plants, 144, 198 
199 

Pruning, shrubs, 116, 117, 180; 
instruments for, 181 

Primus, double, 105 

— spinosaflore pleno, 10 
Public schools, training of, 259 
Pudding, receipt for a, 77 
Pur6e, 25, 26 
Pyracanthuses, 44, 204 
Pyrethrum, 173 

Pyrus japonica, 43, 44 ; pruning, 
117 ; Appendix, 364 



378 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



Quince jam, 184, 185 



Babbit's Ears plant, 104, 105 
Eain-water, storage of, 137, 288 
Ranunculus lingua, 89 
Eavioli, preparation for, 32, 33 
Reading of novels by girls, 333 
Eedbreast, the, tameness of, 178 ; 

lines to, 178, 179 
Eeformation, the, its effect on the 
cultivation of gardens, con- 
sumption of vegetables and 
fish, 147, 148 
Rhododendrons, 96, 167, 237 
Rhubarb, receipt for cooking, 26, 

27 ; jam, 96 
Rlius cotinus, 118 
Ribbon-borders, 151 
Rihes sanguinum, 104, 196 
Rice for curry, to boil, 108, 109 
Eichter, J. P. F., on an unhappy 

marriage, 329, 330 
Eisotto, Italian receipts for, 107, 

253, 254 
Eobinson, W., his 'English 
Flower Garden ' and other 
works, 1, 231, 233-235, 248 
Rohinsoniana, 72 
Rochea falcata, 163 
Eock-roses, 84, 85, 216 
Eockery, making a, 88-90 
Eockets, double, 5,73; single, 103 
Eooms, plants and flowers for, 
7-13 ; letting the autumn sun 
into, 202 
Eose, Reve d'Or, 43 ; La Marqiie, 
43, 137; Marichal Niel, 43; 
McCartney, 45 ; Aimee Vibert, 
45 ; Gloire des Rosemaines, 
45 ; Fallenberg, 45 ; tea, 88, 
140, 205 ; moss, 93 ; Gloria 
Mundi, 95 ; Cottage-maid, 
95 ; De Meaux, 95 ; cabbage, 
95, 209 ; Ayrshire, 139 ; Mal- 
maison, 209 ; Banksia, 209 ; 
Christmas, 18 ; lucida, 209 ; 
Bourbon, 229 
Eosemary, 104 

Eoses, Eedoute's illustrations of, 
209 



Eoyal Academy of Arts, pictures 
and sculpture in, 291-295 

— Horticultural Society, spring 
exhibition of, 23, 24 ; member- 
ship of, 24 

Euling by force, 267, 268 

Eush, sweet-smelling, 141; flower- 
ing, 141 

Euskin, Mr., on gathering 
flowers, 4 



St. John's Wokt, 169 

' St. Luke's Summer,' 188 

Salads, 24, 25, 95, 96, 97, 254 

Salpiglossis, 165 

Salsifys, cooking, 13 

Salvias, 173, 174 

Sambucus raccinosa, 153 

Sanitas in a house, use of, 280 

Sargent, Mr., Portrait of a Lady, 

292 
Sauce, Bechamel, 25, 31, 32; 

mayonnaise, 25 ; supreme, 34, 

35 ; fish, 107 ; for wild duck, 

253 
Savins, 139 
Saxifraga granulata florc pleno, 

73 
— wallacei, 73 
Saxifrages, 24, 105, 138, 140, 

184, 187, 198 
Scabiosa caucasica, 184 
Scabious, 132 
Scarlet runners, preserving, 150 ; 

flavour of, 174 ; cooking, 176, 

185 ; growing, 205 
Schizophragma ]iydrangeoides,i6 
Schizostylis coccinca, 187 
Schools, and the training of boys, 

259, 260 
Scilla cainpanulata, 105 
Scillas, 24, 72, 197 
Scotland, a trip to, 151-158 
Sculpture of Mr. Gilbert, 291 
Scythian lamb, the, myth of, 52 

53 
Sea-birds in Scotland, 154 
Seaweed, the Laver, as a vegetable 

dish, 253 
Second-hand furniture, 281, 282 



INDEX 



379 



Sedum spectahile, 132 
Seedlings, treatment of, 165 
Servants and their management, 

348, 349 
Shading a window, 194 
Shelter in gardens, 99 
Shrubberies, flowers in, 151 ; 

treatment of, 166. 167 ; thinning 

out, 168 ; edging for, 169, 181 
Sickness, nursing in, 296-302 ; 

often caused by excess in taking 

drugs, 303, 304 
Silene, 106, 184 
Simphcity in house-furnishing, 

278 
Simpson, Sir James, and his 

brothers, story of, 266 
Smith, Sydney, one of the sayings 

of, 385 
Smoking indoors, 276, 277 
Snapdragons, 134, 135, 170, 184 
Snowdrops, 20, 24, 197 
Snowflakes, 24 

Social entertainments, 350, 351 
Solatium jasminoides, 17, 113 
Sorrel, 76 
Soup, pur6e, 25 ; pot au feu, 28 ; 

consomme, 28, 29 ; julienne, 

29, 30; consomme aux ailerons, 

30 ; paysanne, 79 ; ox-tail, 80, 

81 ; onion, 83, 126 ; cauUflower, 

126 ; artichoke, 203 
Southernwood, 94 
Spanish Armada, and a tradition 

on the coast of Scotland, 155, 

156 
Sparmannia africana, 182 
Spencer, Mr. Herbert, book on 

education by, 328 
Spiderworts, 103, 104 
Spircea aruncus, 5 
— thunbergi, 93 
Spirasas, 93, 206 
Sprayer for watering, 76 
Stachys lanata, 104, 105 
Stael, Mme. de, her description 

of evergreens, 19 ; on parents 

and children, 334 
Stapelias, 122 
Stewed meats, 252 
Stewpans, 16 



Strawberries, selection of varie- 
ties and growing, 120; com 
pote of, 120 

Suburbs, living in the, advan- 
tages of, 289, 290 

Success, meaning of, 272 

Succession duties, and allow- 
ances to children, 266 

Suet, boiled, for frying purposes, 
78 

Sumach, Venetian, 118, 139 

Sundials, 94, 140 

Sunflowers, 50, 86 

Sunsets, 91 

' Superficial ' education, 325, 326 

Surrey, soil and climate of, 17 

Swanley Horticultural College, 
39,40 

Sweet-peas, 165 

Sweet pepper bush, 93, 113, 144 

Sweet Sultans, time for sowing, 
42 

Sweetbriar, 4, 104 

Sweetness and light in a house, 
280 

Sweets with meat, eating, 15 



Table decoration, 10-13, 75, 106, 

138; list of flowers, &c., for, 

192, 193 ; Appendix, 353-365 
Tables, 287, 288 
Tagetes, 132 
Tamarisks, 119 
Tanks for the garden, 137, 140, 

141 
Tarragon, 97, 98 
Tarts, making, 27 
Taylor, Sir Henry, ' Notes from 

Life ' and other works by, 268, 

269 
Teetotalism, benefits of, 304 
TeleJcia speciosa, 136 
Temper in children, treatment 

of, 327 
Temple Gardens flower shows, 

24, 103 
' Theatre of Plants,' Parkinson's, 

54-56 
Tiarella cordifolia, 103, 169 



38o POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



Tiepolo, paintings of, 156, 157 

Tomatoes, with mayonnaise 
sauce, &c., 125 ; stewed when 
unripe, 175 

Tomtits, arrangement for feed- 
ing, 18 

Topiary gardening, 159 

Tradescantia virginica, 103, 161 

Training of children, 257-275 

Trees, destroyed in Sutherland- 
shire, 153, 154 

Tricuspidata, 158 

Tropaolwn speciosum, 46, 152 

Truthfulness, and the training of 
children, 260, 261 

Tuberoses, 162 

Tubs, growing plants in, 110, 
111 

Tulip gesneriwua, 96 

Tulips, forcing, 23 ; varieties, 72, 
103 ; history, 96 ; in the au- 
tumn, 184 

Turf, substitutes for, 84, 169 ; to 
be avoided in London, 195 

Turkeys, natives of America, 15 

Turnip-tops, preparing and cook- 
ing, 26 

Turnips, cooking, 187 



Vases, Japanese, 10 and note, 
Appendix, 360 

' Vegetable lamb,' the, myth of, 
52,53 

Vegetables, dressing and cooking, 
3, 13, 14, 16, 25, 26, 41, 76, 
175, 176, 185, 187, 203, 252, 
253; for soups, 25, 28-30, 41, 
76, 126, 203 ; neglect of their 
cultivation after the Reforma- 
tion, 147, 149 

Vegetarianism, benefits of, 304 

Verbascums, 134 

Verbena, sweet, leaves of, 8 ; for 
walls, 45 ; cultivation, 99, 100 ; 
for London, 198 

Veronica spicata, 132 

Veronicas, 84, 114, 249 

Viburnum, pruning, 117, 169 

Villagers' gardens, 243 



Vine, claret-coloured, 45, 95, 
139 

Vines, taking cuttings of, 104 ; 
for window-shading, 194 

Violas, 138, 187, 198 

Violets, giant (' Princess Bea- 
trice '), 19 ; Neapolitan, 11, 73, 
172, 205 ; white dog-tooth, 105 ; 
Marie Louise, 172 ; Czar, 178 ; 
grown in Dutch gardens, 183 

Virginia creeper, 157; in London, 
194, 195 

Vitis coignetia, 45 

— vulpina, 66 

Vol-au-vent au maigre, 81 

Voltaire, his cynical remark on 
Dante, 206 



Wailflowebs, 164, 184 ; time 

for planting, 200 
Walls, creepers for, 43-46, 157 ; 

whitewashed, for rooms, 283 
Water buttercup, 89 
Water-plants, 141 
Watercress, 83 
Watering, 76, 143, 196, 199 
Watson, Forbes, his ' Flowers 

and Gardens,' and some of his 

opinions, 235-238 
Wax for fruit-bottles, 109, 110 
Weather, whims of the, 70 
Weeding, 90, 116 
Weigelias, pruning, 117 
West aspect for country houses, 

91 
Wheat-growing on moss, 12, 13 
Whims of the weather, 70 
White's ' Natural History of 

Selborne,' 145, 146 
Whitewashed walls, advantages 

of, 283 
Whitings, French method of 

cooking, 41, 42 
Wild gardens, 170, 171, 232, 233 
Willow- weed, 75 
Window, shading a, 194 
Window-boxes in London, 200, 

201 
Winter gardening, 7, 17-19 



INDEX 



381 



Wistaria, trained over posts, 42, 
43 ; for window-shading, 194 

Wives, extravagant, 339 ; duties 
of, 339, 340 ; intellectual occu- 
pation for, 343 ; with pro- 
fessions, 344, 345 

Women, as thinkers, 3 ; garden- 
ing as an employment for, 40 ; 
as sick nurses, 299, 300 ; as 
amateur artists, 307-316 ; their 
education, 317-352 ; higher 
education, 331, 332 ; and the 
power of character, 340 



Work amongst the poor, ama- 
teurs to be discouraged from, 
308, 309 

Wreaths, funeral, 20 



' Year in a Lancashire Garden, 
A,' Bright's, 48, 49, 239 

Yews, 169 

Youth and age contrasted, 274, 
275 

Zavschneria califomica, 223. 



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